Fame Very Expensive for Champion Tyson

Mike Tyson, seeking a few minutes of relaxation before a press conference in New York, slipped out of the Plaza Hotel and settled down on a park bench in the company of closed-circuit promoter Shelly Finkel.

Finkel told the New York Times: “All of a sudden a couple of people see him and ask for autographs. They don’t speak English, but they recognize him. And point to him. Turns out they’re from Spain and Italy. In 10 seconds, there’s a line for autographs. Mike says, ‘Shel, Shel, can you stop it?’ He just wanted breathing room.

“A guy comes by and says, ‘I’m homeless. Can you spare some change?’ Mike starts reaching into his pocket, saying, ‘I don’t know if I have change.’ He pulls out a bill and, without looking at it, gives it to the man. A hundred dollar bill.

“The guy looks at it, looks at it, looks at it. A big grin. ‘Thank you, champ.’ And he skipped off. Actually skipped.”

Here-we-go-again Dept.: Said Manager Sparky Anderson, after Alan Trammell hit the game-winning homer in Detroit’s opener: “I used to think Don Mattingly was the best player in the league. Now I think Alan Trammell is the best in the league.”

Add Sparky: From Moss Klein’s guaranteed-to-happen column in the Sporting News: “In mid-May, after a game-winning hit by Scott Lusader, Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson will say, ‘This kid could be the next Pete Rose.’ In June, Lusader will be playing for Toledo.”

Trivia Time: The University of Kansas, a winner under Phog Allen and Larry Brown, has joined what other four schools as winners of NCAA basketball titles under two different coaches. (Answer below.)

For What It’s Worth: Professor Robert Moore of McGill University estimates that Darryl Strawberry’s mammoth home run Monday in Montreal would have traveled 525 feet had it not been stopped by the rim of Olympic Stadium. Moore estimated that the ball went 340 feet before hitting the top of the building.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest measured home run in a major league game is 565 feet by Mickey Mantle in 1953 at Washington. Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox hit one 587 feet in an exhibition game at Tampa, Fla. in 1919.

Mantle hit one over the right field roof at Tiger Stadium in 1960 that 25 years later was figured trigonometrically to have traveled 643 feet.

Yuk Dept.: From the “1988 Elias Baseball Analyst,” on the failures of former Chicago White Sox pitchers Neil Allen and Britt Burns to make good in New York: “George and Gracie have won more games for the Yankees than Burns and Allen.”

Peter May of the Hartford Courant, predicting Boston will activate Bill Walton for the playoffs, said of a workout: “Walton looked fit. He set picks, blocked shots, rebounded, shot about 90% from the field and, when he wasn’t tired, looked ready to go. He even picked up a technical foul from assistant coach Jimmy Rodgers.”

Trivia Answer: North Carolina (Frank McGuire-Dean Smith), Kentucky (Adolph Rupp-Joe B. Hall), North Carolina State (Norm Sloan-Jim Valvano), Indiana (Branch McCracken-Bob Knight).

Quotebook

Larry Parrish, designated hitter for the Texas Rangers, on the objections voiced by Boston’s Jim Rice and Toronto’s George Bell to such a role: “My advice to them is to DH and play golf.”