No Question About It, Herzog Forgot Advice

Whitey Herzog was telling the how Casey Stengel advised him when he asked the Ol’ Perfessor how to handle the media. Stengel told him, “Let ‘em ask you one question, and you keep talking so they won’t ask you another.”

That’s not the way it worked out after a game St. Louis lost to the New York Mets.

When an Associated Press reporter asked Herzog why he didn’t have pitcher Danny Cox bunt instead of hit away with a rally in the making, Herzog said: “What the . . . kind of . . . question is that, you . . . ? How did you get your job, you . . . ?”

So much for that interview.

Montreal Expos Manager Buck Rodgers, on the failure of the club to solve the weight problem of pitcher Floyd Youmans: “We can’t put a detective on the guy. We can’t close every McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken for 50 miles.”

Said New York Jets quarterback Pat Ryan, after connecting with a high percentage of eggs thrown at vehicles carrying strikebreakers: “I was throwing nice, tight spirals.”

The New York Giants weren’t impressed.

“We don’t throw eggs,” linebacker Harry Carson said. “We eat them.”

Add Jets: Said tight end Rocky Klever: “A strike is like kissing your mother-in-law.”

Trivia Time: Why didn’t Bo Schembechler congratulate John McKay after USC beat Michigan, 10-3, in the 1970 Rose Bowl? (Answer below.)

When Bill Madlock of the Detroit Tigers was asked if he would phone Toronto’s Tony Fernandez in the hospital after putting the Blue Jay shortstop out of action with a slide Thursday night, Madlock said: “Why should I? I’m not the Welcome Wagon.”

Commented the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell: “More like a meat wagon.”

Add Madlock: Of the much-traveled Doyle Alexander, who pitches for Detroit today, he said: “He ain’t pitching for the Tigers or anybody else. He’s pitching for himself. He’s like me. He’s been traded a lot.”

Add Alexander: Baltimore General Manager Hank Peters had this to say about him after his tour of duty with the Orioles: “He’s the most despicable, miserable human being I’ve encountered in all my years in baseball.”

Add Fernandez: He is one of nine shortstops in the major leagues who hail from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.

Oops, make that 10. The man who replaced him, Manny Lee, also is from San Pedro de Macoris.

Ben Johnson is the fastest sprinter in the world, but he’s not the richest. According to L’Equipe, the Paris sports publication, Carl Lewis is the highest-paid athlete on the track circuit, commanding $35,000 an appearance.

Lewis is followed by intermediate hurdler Edwin Moses and Moroccan distance runner Said Aouita at $20,000-plus.

Trivia Answer: Schembechler wasn’t there. He was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack before the game. He turned the team over to assistant coach Jim Young.

Quotebook

Pat Williams, general manager of the Orlando Magic, introducing NBA announcer and former coach Hubie Brown at a banquet: “Hubie was to network basketball ratings what the Titanic was to the winter cruise business.”