It’s Been Long Summer for Bird, Thinking of What Might Have Been

Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Danny Ainge all had injuries, and Dennis Johnson supposedly was overworked. Bill Walton was virtually useless, necessitating the use of Greg Kite, and Scott Wedman was lost.

Even with all that, Larry Bird still thinks the Boston Celtics could have beaten the Lakers and repeated as NBA champions.

“All that talk about all the minutes we were playing didn’t mean nothing to me,” Bird told Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe. “I didn’t mind the minutes. DJ can handle the minutes. Danny can run all day. Kevin was holding up. The only guy I was worried about was Robert . . . if we only had an adequate backup for him. Greg did the best he could, but if Bill could have given us something, we might have done it.

“There is no question about it. If we could have won Game 4, we could have taken it. That’s what makes the summer bad, knowing we got beat. It still hurts.”

He concluded: “I still believe in my heart and mind if we had taken L.A. this year, they’d be done. Jerry Buss would have made changes and torn the team apart, and we’d be rid of them as a contender for the rest of our lives.”

Add Bird: He said he doesn’t want to hear how great this edition of the Lakers was. “Our team the year before would have killed them,” he said. “Bill (Walton) would have been the difference.”

Wrote Peter Pascarelli of the Sporting News after the Dodgers acquired Julio Cruz: “If he does anything in Triple-A, Los Angeles is likely to bring him to the majors and move Steve Sax to the outfield. Supposedly, Dodger pitchers have started keeping notes on how many runs Sax’s shoddy defense costs them.”

Trivia Time: What do Ruppert Jones of the Angels, Lance Parrish of the Philadelphia Phillies and Howard Johnson of the New York Mets have in common? (Answer below.)

Tommy John, denying that he doctors the ball, told the New York Times: “Sparky Anderson started that in Cincinnati. I used to beat the Reds handily, and he thought he could get to me, that it would affect me if he accused me. But the only time the umpires ever came out was when that creep, Pat Corrales, said I was doing it in Cleveland this season.

“I love it because it gives me another pitch or two. Everybody says I throw a spitter. Bob Boone says it’s not a spitter but it looks exactly like one. It’s just a forkball.”

From Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe: “Bo Jackson is striking out, botching fly balls and acting more like a spoiled child each day. Royals owner Avron Fogelman has made Jackson bigger than the team, and Bo is taking advantage of it.”

Said K.C. pitcher Charlie Leibrandt after Jackson misplayed a couple of fly balls Friday night at Boston: “If there was an impartial official scorer there would be only one earned run. Those two doubles are the biggest gifts ever. This is the major leagues, not Little League.”

Trivia Answer: All three played for the 1984 world champion Detroit Tigers.

Quotebook

Johnny Roland, the Chicago Bears’ backfield coach, on the problem William (The Refrigerator) Perry poses as a running back: “It’s hard for a tackler to wrap William up. Which thigh do you take?”