Bol Is Turned Off by Chatty Cathys, Marries Sudanese

Manute Bol of the Washington Bullets never had trouble finding female companionship around the National Basketball Assn. circuit, but to find a bride, the 7-foot 7-inch center returned to Sudan.

“I tried American girls,” he told John Eisenberg of the Baltimore Sun, “but they talk too much.”

Bol married a 5-11, 19-year-old woman named Atong in the city of Khartoum. For her dowry, he gave her 80 cows.

“She is more my kind,” Bol said. “She is quiet. I like quiet girls.”

Note: If the marriage doesn’t work out, Bol gets the cows back.

Trivia Time: Name the only two major league players who have hit home runs as teen-agers and at age 40. (Answer below.)

33 Years Ago Today: Willie Mays made his famous over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz’s long drive to center field and pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes homered off Bob Lemon in the 10th inning to lead the New York Giants to a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series.

On this date in 1963, Stan Musial, 42, ended his career by going 2 for 3 as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2. Cincinnati rookie Pete Rose, who would break Musial’s National League record for hits, went 3 for 5.

Add Rose: Red owner Marge Schott, hoping to boost attendance, asked Rose to put himself in the lineup over the weekend, but he declined, saying: “It’s not exactly what she thinks. She thinks I can walk out of the dugout and get a base hit.”

Schott didn’t agree.

“Oh, he can do it,” she said. “He’s Pete Rose. I think he could walk up there, get a base hit and slide into first.”

Add Schott: According to the Associated Press, she recently took Rose, his coaching staff and their wives out to dinner. She also gave the wives nicely wrapped presents--watches left over from a promotional game the night earlier.

In the absence of pro football, here were some suggestions from Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post on how to pass the day last Sunday:

--”Mow your lawn. Mow your neighbor’s lawn. Mow my lawn. (People living in condos, you’re out of luck on this one. Brush your cats.)”

--”Gather your copies of ‘Theismann’ and begin reading responsively from the part where Joe looks in the mirror and falls in love.”

--”Send a pick-me-up bouquet to Merlin Olsen.”

--”Plot ways to kill the bleached geek with the Australian accent in the Energizer commercial.”

Add Strike: A fan in Atlanta was seen wearing a T-shirt that read, “Scab Fever--Catch It.”

How good an announcer is Don Drysdale? Said Gene Mauch when Big D broke in: “He talks very well for a guy who’s had two fingers in his mouth all his life.”

Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets, on the agonizing race in the National League East: “We’ve been in the hangman’s noose for a week now, only nobody yet has kicked the horse.”

From Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “To err is human. Also stupid.”

Trivia Answer: Ty Cobb and Rusty Staub. Quotebook

Jay Volk, general manager of the Boston Celtics, on why Robert Parish didn’t join the team on a Caribbean cruise this summer: “Robert doesn’t do boats.”