Why Doby Wanted His Own Room

When Bill Veeck signed Satchel Paige in 1948, he did it not only to help Cleveland win the pennant but to provide a companion for Larry Doby, the only black player on the team and the first in the American League.

There was a problem, however. Doby and Paige were a generation apart in age and style. Doby didn’t approve of Satchel’s flamboyant manner.

The two roomed on the road for a short time. Former Indian traveling secretary Spud Goldstein told Bob Sudyk of the Hartford Courant that Paige had a longtime habit of carrying a loaded pistol with him. Paige used to leave it on the nightstand between them, the muzzle often pointing Doby’s way.

“If anything moves at night, you’ll be glad I have it,” Paige would say.

“But what if I move at night?” Doby asked.

Doby got his own room.

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andy Van Slyke told Marty Noble of Newsday that when he first came up to the majors, they wanted him to play third base.

Van Slyke: “They told me they wanted me to play it like Brooks (Robinson). I did. I played it like Mel Brooks.”

Add Pirates: Jim Morrison, on new National League president A. Bartlett Giamatti: “We’re going to have to play with a softball to get his name on the ball.”

Trivia Time: Name the only two managers who have managed three different teams in the World Series. (Answer below.)

If you’ve got money on the Dodgers tonight, read no further: In his last four games at the Astrodome in 1986, Mike Scott was 4-0 with a 1.71 earned-run average, 37 strikeouts and 5 walks in 31 innings. One of the victories was a no-hitter against San Francisco that clinched the NL West title for Houston.

It-had-to-happen Dept.: When Steve Carlton was shopping himself around, Philadelphia columnist Bill Conlin wrote in The Sporting News: “Since it takes Lefty a good hour of physical and mental stretching even to get loose enough to start warming up, the bullpen would seem to be out of the question for him.”

The next day, Carlton was signed by the Cleveland Indians--as a reliever.

Reggie Jackson, on George Steinbrenner: “Of course, I like George Steinbrenner. I like George a lot, even though I found out just the other day that the Yankees are five years behind in the deferred payments they owe me, which stretch through the year 2000.”

Wally Joyner of the Angels told Bob Verdi of the Chicago Tribune how a couple of Chicago Bears have prepared him for anything: “I went to school in Georgia with Kevin Butler. And then I went to college at Brigham Young with his buddy, Jim McMahon. Now, how’s that for a pair? Are they a couple of beauties? I think they liked me because I’m sane.”

Providence backup center Dave Snedeker, a transfer from Iowa, asked the difference between former Hawkeye Coach George Raveling and current Coach Rick Pitino, told The Sporting News: “Raveling would bring in great players every year. Coach Pitino got players that he easily could give up on that he never did. He could just as easily go out and get new players. If Raveling felt guys weren’t getting the job done, he’d go out and recruit somebody he thought would.”

Trivia Answer: Bill McKechnie (Pittsburgh, 1925; St. Louis, 1928; Cincinnati, 1939-40) and Dick Williams (Boston, 1967; Oakland, 1972-73; San Diego, 1984).

Quotebook

Trainer Janks Morton, asked if Sugar Ray Leonard will slug it out with Marvelous Marvin Hagler tonight: “It’s not a trade show. The idea is to hit and not get hit.”