How Hot Was It? Mauch Didn’t Want to Know

It was 126 degrees on the field Sunday when the Angels played at Kansas City, recalling a time when Gene Mauch was managing the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies were mired in a losing streak, and the city was in the grips of a heat wave. Before one game, there was considerable griping among the players about the weather when Mauch suddenly exploded.

“That’s enough,” he shouted. “I don’t want to hear any more. The first guy I hear complaining about the heat during the game is going to pay for it.”

After the first inning, Phillie outfielder Johnny Callison, his uniform soaked with sweat, staggered into the dugout.

“God, it’s hot . . . “ he said, stopping suddenly as he spotted Mauch out of the corner of his eye.

“Just the way I like it.”

Phillie slugger Mike Schmidt says the toughest pitcher he ever faced was Bob Gibson.

“I only faced him my rookie year, and that was enough,” Schmidt said. “The first time I faced him, I hit a homer around the foul pole at Vets’ Stadium. The next time I faced him, in St. Louis, I got a single right through his legs.”

And the next time?

“He hit me smack on my arm.”

Trivia Time: One year ago today, when Texas Ranger pitcher Charlie Hough held the Angels hitless for 8 innings, who broke up his no-hitter? (Answer in column four.)

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant, on the champagne in the Laker dressing room: “The brand was Cook’s, $2.99 a bottle at your local Los Angeles supermarket.”

He added: “The Lakers sprayed it and poured it over everyone, especially Coach Pat Riley. Except for team captain Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who always manages to be a little different. He poured Hawaiian Punch.”

Pascual Perez, the unpredictable Dominican pitcher who once missed a game in Atlanta when he got lost on the freeway, is now doing so well in the Montreal chain that the Expos are thinking of calling him up.

“At least Montreal is on an island,” Montreal Manager Buck Rodgers said. “So he won’t get lost on his way to the Olympic Stadium. We won’t be supplying him with a chauffeur either. When I coached in the Dominican Republic, I never got lost on the way to the ballpark.”

From Jerry Greene of the Orlando Sentinel: “According to Gary Myers of the Dallas Morning News, New York Giant punter Sean Landeta tried to make a date with a girl he met at a Super Bowl victory party. Her name? Donna Rice. Yep, that Donna Rice.”

Trivia Answer: Wally Joyner. Hough had taken a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning and struck out pinch-hitter Ruppert Jones. He then got pinch-hitter Jack Howell to hit a fly ball down the left-field line, which left fielder George Wright dropped for a three-base error. Joyner followed with a single to end the no-hitter and tie the game at 1-1. Doug DeCinces struck out, but the third strike got away from catcher Orlando Mercado and Joyner moved to second. Reggie Jackson was intentionally walked. George Hendrick struck out, but the third strike bounced away from Mercado and Joyner scored from second base. The Angels won, 2-1.

Quotebook

Chicago Bear Coach Mike Ditka, on Jim McMahon’s off-season surgery: “The shoulder surgery was a success. The lobotomy failed.”