McCarver’s Hits Left Them Open-Mouthed

Tim McCarver calls Whitey Herzog the best manager he has seen, but he puts Gene Mauch in the same league and says nobody was better at stealing signs.

In his book, “Oh, Baby, I Love It!” McCarver says, “Gene used to be able to pick up the interaction between the enemy shortstop and second baseman that would determine which man would cover second base on an attempted steal.

“One fielder, according to Mauch’s sharp-eyed diagnosis, would shield his face with his glove and open his mouth. This meant the other guy would cover. If the same guy kept his lips closed, that meant he’d do the covering.

“Mauch couldn’t actually see the open or closed mouth--he’d watch the vein in the infielder’s neck. If the vein contracted, his mouth was open, and that meant he was saying, ‘You!’ So Mauch knew the other guy would cover. He was never wrong.

“When I played for Montreal, Gene was so perceptive about these gestures that I added a half-dozen hits one year by guiding ground balls through the area vacated by the second baseman.”

After Dave Parker said John Candelaria is the pitcher he’d want going for him in a key game in September, Times staffer Steve Harvey said, “How about October?”

On Oct. 15, 1986, Candelaria went for the Angels in Game 7 of the American League playoffs against Boston. The Red Sox won, 8-1.

Trivia Time: What was the name of the device the World Football League introduced to measure first downs? (Answer to follow.)

From Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe: “Poor Bill Musselman. He wins the CBA four years in a row, and he can’t get a job in the NBA because everybody still thinks the only difference between him and a fruitcake is that he can’t be shipped Federal Express at Christmas.”

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: Pitcher Zane Smith, pinch-running for the Atlanta Braves in a game against the Chicago Cubs, requested a warmup jacket.

Said USA Today: “The umpires refused to let him wear one because only pitchers throwing in the game can wear jackets on the basepaths.”

In Oakland, they celebrate homers with the Bash, which calls for the bashing of forearms, but Mike Gallego wishes they’d go back to high-fives.

After doing the Bash with Mark McGwire in Toronto, Gallego told USA Today: “He jolted me so much that my teeth rattled. I thought he seriously hurt me.”

Gallego is 5 feet 8 inches and 160 pounds. McGwire is 6-5 and 230.

12 Years Ago Today: On May 26, 1976, Joe Niekro, pitching for Houston, beat Phil Niekro, pitching for Atlanta, 4-3. Joe hit a home run off Phil, the only one he hit in his major league career.

From CBS analyst Pat Haden, picking Florida State to win the 1988 college football championship: “If I had to choose a national championship game, it would be Florida State and Texas A&M; in the Cotton Bowl. Florida State has a couple of tough games early. They have to play Miami in early September. If Florida State can get by that game, I can see them going undefeated.”

Trivia Answer: Dickerrod.

Quotebook

Former umpire Ron Luciano, on his brief career as an NBC analyst: “Doing TV backup games is like doing a telethon for hiccups.”