He Knew Enough to Call Home

Toronto reliever Tom Henke is a native of Missouri, where his folks are longtime fans of the St. Louis Cardinals. He put in a call to them before a game against the New York Yankees.

“I didn’t know much about Jack Clark, but my folks watch the Cardinals all the time,” Henke told Moss Klein of the Sporting News. “They told me the best way to pitch him was down and away, so that’s what I did.

Clark hit a soft sacrifice fly, and Toronto held on to win, 3-2.

Henke: “I followed the Mom and Dad scouting report.”

Said basketball Coach Ben Jobe of Southern University, scolding a group of reporters: “Most of you learned your basketball from Dick Vitale, and he couldn’t coach his way out of a bathroom.”

In 17 years, Jobe has a winning percentage of .695. Vitale, in four years at the University of Detroit, was .722.

Boston Celtics Coach K.C. Jones, asked about his chances of being named coach of the year for the first time, said: “I believe that Pat Riley has done much better than I have. His teams have won three championships, and his teams have consistently had the best record in the league.”

In the five seasons they’ve coached against each other, Boston has had the better record three times.

Trivia Time: Who is the only jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Epsom Derby, England’s classic race? (Answer below.)

Irving Fryar of New England has been involved in a number of off-field indiscretions, but ex-Patriot John Hannah told the Sporting News, “His big problem is that he keeps getting caught.

“I’m serious. It was the same with my brother Charley and me. We’d do the same thing, but Charley never got caught and I always got the tar whaled out of me. There are a lot of guys on the Patriots just as crazy as Irving, but they never get caught.”

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jim Gott, asked what he would be doing if he wasn’t a major league player, told USA Today: “I’d love to be in Korea studying karate all the time.”

28 Years Ago Today: On May 7, 1960, Norm Sherry, a replacement catcher for the Dodgers, hit a home run in the 11th inning, giving his brother, reliever Larry Sherry, a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at the Coliseum.

On this date in 1917, Boston Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth allowed only two hits, beating Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators, 1-0. Ruth knocked in the only run with a sacrifice fly.

From Tom Verducci of Newsday: “And who was that slick fielder picking it up at third base during Yankees batting practice Thursday night? It was Billy Martin, who fielded several balls by reaching behind his legs.”

Add Yankees: Protesting his ejection by umpire Durwood Merrill Wednesday night, John Candelaria said: “I asked him what I had to do to get a strike call, and he tossed me for it.”

Said Merrill: “He came up to me and made a statement. When I ignored it and walked away, he made a profound statement.”

Translation: He said the magic word.

Trivia Answer: Steve Cauthen. He won the Kentucky Derby on Affirmed (1978) and the Epsom Derby on Slip Anchor (1985).

Quotebook

Trainer Dianne Carpenter, saying she picked Jorge Velasquez to ride Kingpost in the Kentucky Derby today because they communicate well: “I have a degree in English, but I don’t seem to communicate too well with some of these guys. The last time I was giving instructions to Laffit Pincay, he was looking up at the sky.”