Old-timers Heard It All Before

Shirley Povich of the Washington Post wonders if you heard about the heavyweight who was training in Atlantic City while his actress wife was trying to get rid of his manager.

Mike Tyson, Robin Givens and Bill Cayton? No, Jack Dempsey, Estelle Taylor and Jack Kearns.

It was 1926, before Dempsey’s first fight against Gene Tunney, and Taylor told her husband, “It’s Kearns or me, Jack. Choose.”

Dempsey chose Taylor.

“So,” Povich says, “the Tysons haven’t been breaking any new ground. They could be called copyists.”

Carrying the theme further, he says, “So Mike Tyson bought Robin that $4.5 million hideaway pad in Bernardsville, N.J., with all those acres and made her an instant neighbor of Jackie Onassis? Humph. Back in 1935, for Estelle’s relaxation, Dempsey bought her this little place in the Hollywood Hills, sort of Spanish castle-type, cum swimming pool, an 18-hole golf course, and bridle path, and things, the bathroom decorated in various shades of gold to complement the Spanish lace.”

Add Tyson: Ray Arcel, 89, who has trained 14 world champions, told the Baltimore Sun: “In my mind, he’s another Dempsey or Marciano. He can box, punch, he has courage and determination and nothing bothers him. Believe me, I know how important the mental part can be.

“Muhammad Ali was a great fighter with a big heart, but remember how Angelo Dundee had to push him out of the corner in the first Sonny Liston fight, and again in the 10th round of his third fight with Joe Frazier.

“I think Tyson is a more devastating puncher than Marciano. He hits guys on the top of the head and knocks them out.”

Add Arcel: Of Dempsey, he said: “He was victimized by his manager, Jack Kearns, who kept him sidetracked for three years. When he fought Tunney, he was just a shell of himself.”

Trivia Time: Name the only player who has represented all four divisions in the baseball All-Star game. Hint: He’s still active. (Answer below.)

From Ivan Lendl, commenting on the strange traditions at Wimbledon: “It’s different. You have to wear those ties and badges. You have to drop everything at 4 o’clock sharp so that you have your cup of tea. And if you don’t have a cup of tea they send you a letter to return your tie.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: Chicago Cubs’ first baseman Mark Grace, who went to Saddleback College, said: “I was a big Cardinals fan, and we would come up to Dodger Stadium whenever they were in town. It’s nice to come here and play and not be a spectator.”

Add Cubs: From Tim Kurkjian of the Baltimore Sun: “Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe is running lookalike pictures in his Sunday baseball column. The lookalikes are Don Zimmer and Shaughnessy’s son, Sam, who is 9 months old.”

Remember Joe Garagiola’s line? “Don Zimmer,” he said, “has a face like a blocked punt.”

San Francisco Manager Roger Craig, on the success of the Dodgers: “It’s Kirk Gibson. I don’t want to say I told you so, but I told you so. When the going gets tough, he’s at his best.”

Craig was the Detroit pitching coach when Gibson helped the Tigers win the World Series in 1984.

Trivia Answer: Goose Gossage.

Quotebook

Writer Art Hill, after attending a game at Yankee Stadium: “Seeing Yankee fans up close for the first time is like waking up in a Brazilian jail.”