Fame Fleeting for One Vukovich

Chicago Cub coach John Vukovich, who served as the team’s interim manager between Jim Frey and Gene Michael, recently went to Dr. Frank Jobe for an examination.

“He checked me out, moved my elbow around and then told me what I should do,” Vukovich told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “He said I should restrict my throwing on the side and throw only hard in games.

“It was then that I realized that he thought I was Pete Vuckovich. That told me how famous I was.”

Pete Vuckovich is the former Milwaukee pitcher who won the Cy Young Award in 1982.

Add Vukovich: Of his managerial career, he said: “I had it great for that one day. I was on the pregame radio show, the pregame TV show and got all those nice gifts. No one’s talked to me since.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Cleveland Indian pitcher John Butcher, recalling the big brawl with the Oakland A’s, said: “I grabbed one guy, but it said CANSECO on his back and I let go. I figured I better try somebody else.”

Trivia Time: What do Parnell Dickinson, Randy Hedberg and Jeb Blount have in common? (Answer at right.)

Wrote Joe Gergen of Newsday after a day at the races at the Central Moscow Hippodrome: “The Hippodrome hosts both thoroughbred and harness racing but Sunday was devoted primarily to the latter, prompting Tom Callahan of Time Magazine to dub the complex Trotsky Park.”

Would-you-believe-it dept.: In the National League’s 6-1 win over the American League in last year’s All-Star game, Willie McGee and Ozzie Virgil each knocked in two runs and Steve Garvey and Terry Kennedy each knocked in one. None of the four made the team this year.

Also absent is last year’s MVP, pitcher LaMarr Hoyt.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens went to Spring Woods High School, which is 15 miles from the Houston Astrodome, where he will start for the American League tonight.

“Here, I can say ‘y’all’ without people getting on me,” he said.

When he was a senior in high school, he said a Minnesota scout came to his home and told him he had better sign then or he wouldn’t get another chance.

Clemens: “My mother told him, ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.’ ”

Add Clemens: Says Cliff Gustafson, his coach at the University of Texas: “I’m not surprised he’s doing this well, but I’ll tell you this, we’ve had some great pitchers in our program. Burt Hooton was the best pitcher ever to play for me. But Roger was the one I thought would have the best major league career.”

Said Baltimore Oriole Manager Earl Weaver, looking to the second half of the season with the Orioles 10 games back: “It’s always darkest before the storm, uh, I mean dawn. It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Or something.

Trivia Answer: All three played quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quotebook

Minor league manager Rocky Bridges, recalling a game against a Chinese team: “An hour later we wanted to play them again.”