Red Sox Fan Tries to Spark His Team

In Friday’s home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston catcher Marc Sullivan was backing up first base on a play when somebody threw a flashlight battery from the stands.

Asked about it afterward, Sullivan told the Hartford Courant, “Please, don’t make a big deal of that. The battery didn’t whiz by my head. I saw it land near my feet.

“If a lot is made of it, it will get worse. They’ll start throwing car batteries. Besides, maybe it was my dad who threw the battery.”

His dad is Haywood C. Sullivan. He’s the chief executive officer of the Red Sox.

Penthouse-to-outhouse Dept.: Mickey Hatcher, newest of Dodgers, found himself in the ultimate nosedive Friday night. While his old team, the Minnesota Twins, was raising its record to 4-0 at Seattle, the Dodgers were plummeting to 0-5 at Dodger Stadium.

Add Hatcher: At Minnesota, he was rated among the foremost flakes in the game. Teammate Roy Smalley once said: “He’s the first guy ever to make the majors on one brain cell.”

Trivia Time: On April 11, 1969 at Seattle, the Seattle Pilots played their first game, beating the Chicago White Sox, 7-0, behind the pitching of Gary Bell. In what stadium did they play? (Answer below.)

60 Years Ago Today: The 1927 New York Yankees, considered by many the greatest team ever, opened the season with an 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics before a record crowd of 65,000 at Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth, who would hit 60 home runs that year, struck out twice and popped up before Manager Miller Huggins benched him and replaced him with Ben Paschal.

From Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “If at first you don’t succeed, maybe failure is your thing.”

Add Lyon: “ESPN has distributed a laminated card listing a glossary of terms used by Dick Vitale. It may be the first time a network felt compelled to translate one of their analysts. Now if they could just fit him with a silencer.”

Following a column on Woody Hayes by Chicago Tribune columnist Bernie Lincicome, an ex-Buckeye, reader Tom Young wrote, “You could do me a favor by maintaining your silence about being a graduate of Ohio State.”

Said Lincicome: “I will if Bobby Knight will.”

Bret Saberhagen, after going 7-12 for Kansas City last year, decided to change his number from 31 to the number he wore at Cleveland High School, 18.

Friday night, he pitched a no-hitter for 7 innings, and the Royals beat the New York Yankees, 13-1.

“In my last game in high school, I pitched a no-hitter, and we won, 13-0,” Saberhagen said. “And it was 13-0 in the eighth inning when I went out there (Friday night). That was definitely on my mind.”

On June 14, 1982, Cleveland beat Palisades, 13-0, to win the City championship at Dodger Stadium.

Geoff Bodine, on Dale Earnhardt, winner of four of the first six NASCAR races: “Maybe we can take up a collection or something and send him off to Alaska on a bear-hunting trip. Nah, that wouldn’t work. He’d only growl at the bear and run it off.”

Trivia Answer: Sicks Stadium.

Quotebook

Angel pitcher Don Sutton, on why he doesn’t pray for victories: “For all I know, God may not even like baseball. He may be a football fan.”