To the End, Finley Didn’t Bring Wallet

Among the spectators in Chicago to watch Reggie Jackson play his last game for the Oakland A’s was former owner Charlie Finley, who signed Jackson to an A’s contract in 1966.

On the morning of the game, Jackson had breakfast with Finley, who owns an insurance business in Chicago.

“He forgot his wallet,” Jackson said. “I bought breakfast.”

John Diettrich, a rookie from Ball State who kicked field goals of 43, 39, 44 and 27 yards in the Houston Oilers’ 40-10 win over the Denver Broncos, didn’t join the Oilers until the day before the game.

Said Houston Coach Jerry Glanville: “We met at practice for the first time Saturday. He didn’t know me, and I didn’t know him. I still don’t know his name.”

For What It’s Worth: There were five ex-UCLA quarterbacks in action Sunday. The winners were Rick Neuheisel (San Diego) and Steve Bono (Pittsburgh), and the losers were David Norrie (New York Jets), Matt Stevens (Kansas City) and Bernard Quarles (Rams).

Neuheisel was the only one who didn’t throw a touchdown pass, but he scored the decisive point in the 10-9 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, running in for the extra point after the snap was botched.

Trivia Time: Name the five managers who have managed teams from both leagues in the league championship series. (Answer below.)

From Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox: “Winning the Cy Young Award back-to-back would be very sweet.”

Sweet indeed. According to his contract, it would be worth a bonus of $300,000.

Wrote Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe last week, dreading a championship series between Toronto and Minnesota: “That would spotlight the two most boring managers in baseball. Toronto’s Jimy Williams and Minnesota’s Tom Kelly are capable of uttering a chain of cliches that could stretch across the Great Lakes.”

Payton Place: Sean Payton never will be confused with Walter Payton, but has any Chicago Bear ever had a better average? Payton, a reserve quarterback from Eastern Illinois, carried once against Philadelphia for 28 yards. Payton played in the Arena Football League as did the man he replaced Sunday, Mike Hohensee.

Hall of Fame pitcher Lefty Gomez, on his career as a minor league manager: “We lost 12 straight one year. I decided if we got rained out, we’d have a victory dinner.”

Said Cincinnati Manager Pete Rose when told that the Astros might try to cut Nolan Ryan’s salary next year: “I can’t believe a team would ask a guy to renegotiate his contract when he leads the league in strikeouts and earned-run average. It should be the other way around.

“If I could get him, I’d send a Porsche . . . no, I’d send a Rolls-Royce to pick him up.”

Hector Camacho calls himself Macho, but Ray (Boom Boom) Mancini told USA Today: “He’s the most un-macho guy I know. He runs like a dog and holds you like a woman. I only wish I had a girlfriend who held me like that.”

Trivia Answer: Sparky Anderson (Cincinnati-Detroit), Whitey Herzog (Kansas City-St. Louis), Jim Frey (Kansas City-Chicago Cubs), Dick Williams (Oakland-San Diego), John McNamara (Cincinnati-Boston).

Quotebook

Announcer Don Criqui, on 6-foot 5-inch, 320-pound tackle Keith Bosley of the Browns during the Cleveland-New England game: “They don’t have Keith’s time in the 40 because he’s never gone that far.”