Major League Malaprops From the Master

Johnny Logan, master of the malaprop when he played shortstop for the Milwaukee Braves, hasn’t lost his touch.

As a casting adviser for “Major League,” a film that will be shot in Milwaukee, he looked over a group of candidates and said, “Maybe I can find some major league suspects.”

Some Loganisms from the past:

--”Rome wasn’t born in a day.”

--”I’ll have pie a la mode with ice cream.”

--”I heard his footprints coming down the hall.”

--On receiving an award: “I will perish this trophy forever.”

--Upon being introduced to someone: “I know the name, but I can’t replace the face.”

--Asked to pick the greatest player ever: “I’ll have to go with the immoral Babe Ruth.”

--Told that a mistake in the Milwaukee Journal was a typographical error: “The hell it was. It was a clean base hit.”

The Atlanta Journal ran this quote from Michael Spinks March 31: “The fight will end whenever I possibly connect. I hope it’s the first round. I wouldn’t want to be in a long night’s fight with Mike.”

He got it half right.

Add Fight: Dave Nightingale of the Sporting News says they call Mike Tyson’s $4.5-million New Jersey home “The House That Ruth Built.”

Tyson’s mother-in-law, one of the occupants, is Ruth Roper.

The following was addressed to Times sports editor Bill Dwyre: “Dear Mr. Dwyre: When my son, Jesus, returns to earth, I trust he will receive the same kind of news space attributed the Los Angeles Lakers.

“GOD”

Trivia Time: What do Wimbledon champions Don Budge, Rod Laver and Boris Becker have in common? (Answer below.)

Wes Unseld, asked why the Washington Bullets passed on Tito Horford, said: “I don’t think we can afford any more projects.”

“But he has a great body,” somebody said.

“I’ve got a nephew with a great body,” Unseld said. “I didn’t take him either.”

Ouch: Tom Chambers of the Seattle SuperSonics, suggesting the club didn’t do Coach Bernie Bickerstaff any favors when it got Michael Cage, told Newsday: “Well, Bernie’s got his rebounder now. But I’ll tell you what, Michael Cage is not what everybody thinks he is. He can’t shoot, he can’t run, he can’t jump and he can’t block shots. He has one thing he can do--rebound.”

25 Years Ago Today: On July 2, 1963, Juan Marichal of San Francisco beat Warren Spahn and the Milwaukee Braves, 1-0, in 16 innings. Willie Mays hit a home run off the 42-year-old Spahn for the Giant victory.

On this date in 1921, the Jack Dempsey-Georges Carpentier heavyweight match at Rickard’s Orchard in Jersey City, N.J., became the first million-dollar gate in boxing history. The receipts totaled $1,789,238, with $50 ringside seats. A crowd of 80,183 saw Dempsey knock out Carpentier at 1:16 of the fourth round. It was also the first world championship bout to be broadcast, blow-by-blow, on the radio.

Trivia Answer: All three have red hair.

Quotebook

Golf architect Robert Trent Jones Jr., on the difference between the course he built at Coto de Caza in Orange County and the one he plans to build in Moscow: “In Moscow, you build the holes where doglegs go to the left. In Orange County, the doglegs have to go to the right.”