This Fan Was Not a Saint

On the second day of the strike, the New Orleans Saints had more trouble with the fans than the strikebreakers.

One fan, Larry Lott, 45, of LaPlace, La., had to be restrained after a shouting match with about a dozen players. He told them he pays their salaries because he is a season ticket-holder.

“Why don’t you go get a job,” snapped wide receiver Lonzell Hill.

Said Lott: “You pay me $300,000 like y’all make, and I’ll go anywhere.”

Said Ram linebacker Carl Ekern, when asked how he’s spending his days: “I’ve been working my butt off doing yard work, mowing the lawn, trimming the bushes. I sure wouldn’t want to do that for a living.”

From Chicago Bears defensive end Dan Hampton, saying he wasn’t surprised that Mark Gastineau crossed the New York Jets’ picket line: “He’s got an IQ of about room temperature.”

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: Boston College football Coach Jack Bicknell told the Boston Globe about his first job interview at Bates College in the 1970s: “I thought the interview went well, but then I realized I’d left my wallet at home. I had to borrow 10 bucks from the Bates athletic director.

“Here I’ve just had the interview, and I say to the guy, ‘Look, I know this sounds ridiculous, but I can’t find my wallet and I don’t have any gas.’ Here I am in my 30s, and they give the job to Vic Gatto, a kid straight out of Harvard.”

Trivia Time: Mike Sharperson of the Dodgers has what in common with Danny Ainge of the Boston Celtics and Jay Schroeder of the Washington Redskins? (Answer below.)

Babe Ruth was a great pitcher who became a great slugger, but how was the rest of his game?

Says former Yankee shortstop Mark Koenig, 83: “As an outfielder, he had good hands and a good arm, and he was pretty fast for a big man. I never saw him drop a fly ball, and he never threw to the wrong base. He hit a lot of homers, of course, but he also had a high average. He even looked good striking out.”

A

dd Koenig: He was brought out to Hollywood for the making of “The Babe Ruth Story,” with William Bendix, but he wasn’t impressed.

“What a lousy picture that was,” he said. “They had Babe Ruth drinking milk. I don’t think he drank a glass of milk in his life.”

Said Colorado linebacker Tom Dunn, after the death of Ralphie II, the team’s buffalo mascot: “At least she died happy knowing we beat Stanford. Too bad she won’t be here to see us beat Nebraska and Oklahoma.”

No buffalo could live that long.

47 Years Ago Today: Jimmie Foxx of the Boston Red Sox hit his 500th career home run, and Ted Williams hit three straight homers in the first game of a doubleheader against Philadelphia. Foxx was 32, the youngest ever to hit 500, but he hit only 34 more in his career.

On this date in 1969, Gary Gentry pitched a four-hitter, and Donn Clendenon hit two homers as the Miracle Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0, to clinch the National League East title.

Trivia Answer: All three began their professional careers in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization.

Quotebook

Howie Long, on the lack of offensive players on the Raider picket line: “We’ve been looking for the offense for a long time.”