Even as a Kid, He Could Handle the Big Boys

Wayne Embry, former Cincinnati Royals star who put in a couple of years with the Boston Celtics, told the Akron Beacon Journal about his most humbling experience.

“It was at a basketball camp in New Hampshire,” Embry said. “I was still playing for the Celtics and I asked one of the people who ran the camp who was the best player there. I wanted a workout, play a little one-on-one.

“So, they took me to one of their outdoor courts and pointed to a player I had never seen before. He was just some 6-5, skinny high school kid. So I said, ‘We’ll play, but I’ll just take outside shots.’ I figured I could just blow him out, so I’d work on my jumper.

“The first time I get the ball, I go up for a shot, he blocks it. Then he picks up the ball, drives around me and dunks. On the next possession, same thing. Well, he beat me pretty soundly.”

Continued Embry, who stands 6-8: “The next game, I say that I’m going to my full game, not just shooting from the outside. To make a long story short, he beat me again. I was a veteran NBA player getting beat by a high school kid.”

The kid was Julius Erving.

Add Erving: Remember his gravity-defying swoop around Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for a behind-the-backboard reverse layup in the 1979-80 playoffs at Philadelphia?

Said Magic Johnson, who will never forget it: “I didn’t know whether to take the ball out or ask him to do it again.”

When Cincinnati’s Kurt Stillwell homered with the bases loaded Friday night, it was only his 70th career hit, but it tied Manager Pete Rose’s career mark of one grand slam.

“I hope he matches me in hits, too,” said Rose, who has 4,256. “Of course, if he does, we’ll all be dead by then.”

Trivia Time: Who gave up the only grand slam hit by Pete Rose? Hint: Rose later worked for him. (Answer below.)

Moss Klein of The Sporting News, on Joe Cowley, who no-hit the Angels last year and then was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Philadelphia Phillies in the off-season: “He’s a flake who quickly wears out his welcome with management. He has some talent, but as former Yankee teammate Don Baylor once said, ‘Cowley lives on his own planet. He just lets the rest of us visit once in a while.’ ”

Add Cowley: In his first start for the Phillies, he lasted two-thirds of an inning. He improved in his second start, lasting a full inning. In so doing, he lowered his ERA from 54.00 to 48.50.

The quote of the year? The leader in the clubhouse is Oakland Manager Tony LaRussa with this one: “When you’re not winning, it’s tough to win a game.”

Said Mike Schmidt after his historic homer Saturday: “What will I tell my grand kids when they ask me about No. 500? I’ll tell them I pointed to left field before I hit it.”

He didn’t.

Detroit Coach Chuck Daly, on Piston enforcer Rick Mahorn: “I think he just likes to hit people. When he walks by me, he gives me a shot. I think he’s in the wrong sport.”

Trivia Answer: Dallas Green of the Phillies. Later, he was Rose’s manager at Philadelphia.

Quotebook

Whitey Ford, on why he’s scuffing up the ball: “I’m tired of losing old-timers’ games.”