He’s a Cinch Winner on Banquet Circuit

Texas A&M; shotputter Randy Barnes, in town to help promote the Pepsi Invitational at UCLA, went to the coffee shop at the Sheraton Plaza La Reina and asked, “What’s for breakfast?”

“Well,” said the waitress, “you can have eggs with bacon or sausage and toast, or sausage with pancake sandwiches, or steak and eggs . . . “

“I’ll have one of each,” Barnes said. “And three milks.”

An hour later, at Julie’s, he was breaking bread with the media at the Southland track writers luncheon.

Barnes is 6-4 1/2 and 290.

Wait a Minute: Said Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen, world record holder in the women’s marathon: “The Americans don’t know how to run. They could take lessons.”

In the last Olympics, the winner of the women’s marathon was Joan Benoit Samuelson, an American. Kristiansen was fourth.

Said Montreal Canadiens’ Coach Jean Perron after Stephane Richer was slashed by Boston’s Michael Thelven, breaking his thumb: “It was a vicious act, something that should not be tolerated.”

Asked if he thought it was vicious, Thelven said, “What does that mean?”

Thelven is from Sweden.

Trivia Time: When USC’s Bill Sharman set a Pacific Coast Conference Southern Division single-season scoring record in 1949-50, he broke the record of what Stanford star? (Answer below.)

Bob Saberhagen, father of Bret, explains how the Kansas City pitcher hurt himself in that hotel room accident: “Since he was a kid, Bret has had this habit of diving into bed. He got up to go to the bathroom and didn’t turn on a light. When he came back, he felt an end table with his leg, thought it was the bed, and dove. But there was no bed.”

Bret suffered a cut on his forehead that required 11 stitches, but his father said, “He’s fine.” He’s not expected to miss a start.

Would-you-believe-it dept.: From Tom Verducci of Newsday: “Rick Bay, who was named the New York Yankees’ executive vice president during the winter, was once the athletic director at the University of Oregon. In his first year, 1981, his department dropped the baseball program.”

Add Yankees: Said Manager Billy Martin when told that Minnesota reliever Juan Berenguer had struck out 21 batters in 15 innings: “He throws great when he’s got a big lead or when he’s way behind. But when it’s a close game, it’s ball one, ball two, ball three . . . “

Trivia Answer: George Yardley. Yardley set the record earlier the same night against California, breaking the 12-year-old mark of Stanford immortal Hank Luisetti. Sharman later eclipsed Yardley’s mark in a game against UCLA at the Pan Pacific Auditorium.

Quotebook

Jack McKeon, general manager of the San Diego Padres, on incentive bonuses: “We feel that you pay a guy for a 162-game schedule, so why pay him extra for playing 150 games?”