When Nicklaus Finally Got It Right, He Quit

Few people have handled pressure the way Jack Nicklaus has. On the golf course, that is. In the delivery room, he was something else. A rundown from the man himself:

“I was in Cincinnati when Jackie was born. Barbara called me and I went back to Columbus. I went to the hospital, they brought Jackie out, and I keeled over.

“The second was Steve. They brought Steve out into the waiting room, and I was on the carpet.

“The third was Nan. They knew what was going to happen, so they had two people to catch me when they brought her out. I spent a longer time in the recovery room than Barbara did.

“The fourth was Gary. I went to the hospital with a pillow, smelling salts, everything. I looked at him and, bam, I’m out again.

“The fifth was Michael. I looked at him and nothing happened. I didn’t faint. I figured that must be time to call an end to it.”

Add Deliveries: Says Bob Saberhagen, father of Bret: “Anyone who stays in there to watch his baby born has guts. I gave his mother a bullet to bite and went for a walk.”

Add Nicklaus: Of the current golfers, he says, “Greg Norman is the dominant player, I don’t think there’s any question about that. He’s having a hard time now getting over what happened a month ago, but I don’t blame him. It took me a couple of years to get over Watson’s chip-in.”

Larry Mize chipped in to beat Norman in the Masters. Tom Watson chipped in for a birdie on the 17th at Pebble Beach to beat Nicklaus in the 1982 U.S. Open.

E-4: After finishing third in a field of five for the Democratic nomination for Westmoreland County commissioner in Greensburg, Pa., former Pittsburgh Pirate second baseman Bill Mazeroski said when asked about the issues: “I was never involved with that. I didn’t have time to study them.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: James (Quick) Tillis tells of his first trip to Chicago to launch his boxing career: “I put down my suitcase and looked up at the Sears Tower and I said, ‘Chicago, I’m going to conquer you!’ When I looked down, my suitcase was missing.”

Trivia Time: When the Pirates traded catcher Manny Sanguillen and $100,000 to the Oakland A ‘s in 1976, whom did they get in return? (Answer below.)

From Mike Tyson, crediting the late Cus D’Amato for steering him from drinking and smoking: “Whenever anybody would drink champagne, Cus used to give me water or soda. I’d say ‘Cus, let me have a drink, Mickey Walker did it.’ Cus would say ‘You’re not Mickey Walker.’

“Once while watching a tape of a fight, I saw Georges Carpentier smoking a cigarette at ringside. That really screwed my mind up all night.”

Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, has seen a lot of amazing things on the ballfield, but he says: “The most amazing thing I’ve ever seen was Jay Johnstone in uniform, in line at a concession stand in Dodger Stadium after a game had already started.”

From Tom Brunansky of the Minnesota Twins: “Ninety-nine percent of the guys in the league with no-trade contracts had it in their contracts they wouldn’t play for us. The other 1% were already here.”

Trivia Answer: Manager Chuck Tanner.

Quotebook

New York Met announcer Tim McCarver, as rain started to fall in Shea Stadium: “The drops are big, but they’re spread wide apart.”