Tubby Tuba Player to Try NFL

The San Diego Chargers have signed Chuck Rogers, a 6-foot-9, 360-pound offensive lineman whose only experience is two years with the semipro New Jersey Oaks.

Rogers, 24, didn’t play as a prep in Pennsylvania or at the University of Dayton because he was too busy playing the tuba.

“When I was playing in the band,” Rogers said, “folks used to point at me and say, ‘This is our tuba player. Wait until you see the football team.’ ”

Said Charger scout Ron Nay: “He looks great so far, but we’ll see what happens. I’ll tell you one thing, if he makes it, we are going to scout the heck out of Dayton’s band next year.”

Dave Brown, assistant basketball coach at Pan American University in Edinburg, Tex., on 300-pound center Charles (Junior) Ray: “I got an emergency call from the Edinburg Pizza Hut. They had an all-you-can-eat special for $3.49. They phoned because Junior had eaten seven pizzas and had broken the bank. The pizza people wanted him taken away. He gained 11 pounds overnight, I heard.”

Trivia Time: What two members of the baseball Hall of Fame played for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants? (Answer below.)

From Marty Noble of Newsday: “Travis John, the 8-year-old son of Yankees pitcher Tommy, recently requested a hot dog but declined to have sauerkraut. The man preparing the hot dog said, ‘You don’t like sauerkraut? Weren’t you born in America?’ Travis’ reply: ‘No, I was born in California.’ ”

Would-you-believe-it dept.: From a New York Times story on Tom Collins, former agent for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and other NBA stars, who is being sued by Abdul-Jabbar: “It is even questionable whether Collins is a registered agent, because the check for his $400 registration fee to the players association bounced, the association said.”

From San Diego Padres’ General Manager Jack McKeon, recalling his first meeting with new Manager Larry Bowa: “It was almost like I was interviewing myself. I was very impressed.”

Bowa can only hope he doesn’t manage like McKeon. In parts of two seasons at Oakland, McKeon was 71-106, a .401 winning percentage.

For What It’s Worth: Pacific 10 basketball teams are 1-8 in NCAA tournament play since the 1983-84 season. Since 1979-80, when UCLA played in the championship game, the Pac-10 has lost 17 of 23 NCAA tournament games.

St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog, who was the manager at Kansas City when the Royals lost three straight American League Championship Series to the New York Yankees, rates the 1977 Yankees over last year’s New York Mets.

“The ’77 Yankees had a better lineup and a better defense,” Herzog told Murray Chass of the New York Times. “Think of that lineup--Rivers, Randolph, Munson, Jackson, Chambliss, Nettles. And they had Piniella and Dent, too.

“I don’t know if their pitching was as deep as the Mets, but they had Catfish, Figueroa and Guidry, and those three were pretty good. And they had Lyle in the bullpen. But when you think of that lineup--you had to be a pretty good pitcher to beat the Yankees.”

Trivia Answer: Duke Snider and Juan Marichal.

Quotebook

Chi Chi Rodriguez, on how the game of golf has changed: “We used to play to become the head pro at a club. New we’re looking to buy the club.”