Dickerson Likes Bo’s Decision

So far, it has been a struggle for Bo Jackson in baseball, but Eric Dickerson told The Sporting News he thinks the Heisman Trophy winner made the right choice.

Dickerson said he took some pretty good hits as a running back at Southern Methodist but nothing like he’s taking now.

“You’ve never been hit until you play in the NFL,” he said. “Sometimes, you get hit and you see little twinkling things in front of your eyes. Sometimes a chill comes over you. But you got to get up. Those guys’ll be standing over you going, ‘You’re hurt, you know you’re hurt.’

“When you get up, you’re telling them you’re not. But in your head, you’re saying, ‘You’re damn right, I’m hurt.’ ”

Remembering his childhood, he said, “I wish I had listened to my mother. She said play baseball.”

Add Bo: When Bobby Bonds set the major league record of 189 strikeouts in a season, he had 663 at-bats. Jackson, in his first 11 games with the Memphis Chicks, struck out 21 times in 42 at-bats. Given the same at-bats as Bonds, he would wind up with 331.

Trivia Time: In 1936, Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees was the first rookie chosen to start in the All-Star game. What was memorable about his performance? (Answer below.)

From senior golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez: “I wanted to play baseball as a kid. I got my name from Chi Chi Flores, who played Class A ball in Puerto Rico. I was his biggest fan. We had Roberto Clemente on that team, and they used him as a pinch-runner. Shows what a genius we had as a manager.”

Steve Scott said he had never seen anything like it, after a Soviet runner in the non-seeded heat of the 1,500 meters was given a place ahead of him at the Goodwill Games, but the same thing happened in the 1982 U.S. Indoor championships.

In the seeded heat of the mile, Scott finished fifth. When the times were combined with those in the non-seeded heat, Scott was placed 11th.

Wilt Chamberlain, still complaining about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s meager rebound totals, told Ira Berkow of the New York Times: “He was voted the NBA’s best center, and he gets about four or five rebounds a game. What’s that guy on the Pistons, Lam . . . Lam . . . “

Laimbeer?

“Yeah, Laimbeer. He can’t jump an inch off the ground and he still gets more rebounds than Jabbar. I’m not being critical. I’m just being constructive.”

Of course.

85 Years Ago Today: On July 12, 1901, Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox won his 300th game with a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia A’s. What boggles the minds of Tom Seaver, Don Sutton, Steve Carlton, etc. is that Young would go on to win 211 more games for a total of 511.

Trivia Answer: DiMaggio was the goat of the game, going 0 for 5 and making an error in center field as the National League beat the American League for the first time, 4-3.

Quotebook

Dave Marr, on how he’s faring on the senior golf tour: “The game is very elusive. I can’t believe I could ever play it.”