A Lyons’ Share of Fines To Be Missed in Boston

Remember that game in which Boston had two on in the ninth inning and was trailing Milwaukee by two runs with Wade Boggs at the plate? Steve Lyons, who was on second, tried to steal third and was thrown out to end the game.

“It was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen,” said Boston Manager John McNamara.

Lyons, traded to Chicago in the Tom Seaver deal, is gone but not forgotten. In particular, he is missed by Don Baylor, who presides over Boston’s kangaroo court.

According to the Denver Post, Lyons, nicknamed Psycho by his teammates, led the team in fines collected by Baylor for mental gaffes and other transgressions.

“Trading Lyons took away our major source of income,” said Baylor. “I’ve got to make up the deficit somehow.”

Many in the media have been taking shots at Ivan Lendl at Wimbledon, but Skip Bayless of the Dallas Times Herald says, “Frankly, I haven’t minded Lendl as this year’s leading man. I mean, he isn’t Laurence Olivier. But he isn’t Bela Lugosi, either. His interview answers hint of wit and humor, but his tone is always, ‘You’re going to rip me, anyway, so why should I try?’ And unfortunately, his English still sounds as if he’s reading instead of speaking, in a heavy Slavic cadence.

“I vant to suck your blood.”

How-times-have-changed dept.: Kitty McKane Godfree, now a spry 90, earned a gift voucher for five guineas (about $9) when she won the first of her two Wimbledon titles for Britain in 1924. The payoff Saturday to Martina Navratilova was $176,400.

Add Wimbledon: If you were wondering how much John McEnroe is missed, the turnout for the first 12 days totaled 380,225. That’s an increase of 2,362 over last year, when McEnroe was aboard.

From the Letters to the Editor column in Golf magazine:

“While playing at Boca West CC this past winter, I hit into another fairway. As I went to locate the ball, a woman was about to hit. I asked if she was playing the right ball, and she said yes. She picked up the ball and said, ‘See, I’m playing a ‘Pete Ferlise.’ She hit her shot and walked on. I let her keep the ball.”

PETE FERLISE

Florham Park, N.J.

Wait a Minute: “That would make me the tallest third baseman in baseball history,” said 6-6 Dave Winfield when the New York Yankees were talking about switching him to the hot corner in a manpower crunch.

Not quite. Dave Kingman, also 6-6, started out as a third baseman in his first full season, 1972, with the San Francisco Giants.

53 Years Ago Today: On July 6, 1933, the first major-league All-Star game was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The American League, managed by Connie Mack, defeated the National League, managed by John McGraw, 4-2, on a two-run homer by Babe Ruth.

Quotebook

Pat Williams, who recently resigned as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, on his relationship with team owner Harold Katz: “I wanted to give him something to symbolize our association, but I couldn’t get an ulcer framed.”