Blyleven Changes Look--and Name

Jeff Leonard asked that they call him Jeffrey and he went on to win MVP honors in the National League playoffs. Willie Hernandez asked that they call him Guillermo and he suddenly became an effective reliever again.

Taking note was Minnesota pitcher Bert Blyleven. At 3 a.m. Sunday, after losing to last-place Baltimore, he called his wife Patty at their Villa Park home and said he was thinking of shaving his beard to change his luck. She agreed, so off it came.

At the Metrodome Sunday, Blyleven joked: “Since I look like a kid again, I might as well start totally at the beginning. So, from now on, you can call me Rik. Bert is gone. Other guys are changing their names and it’s working, so from now on, I’m just plain old Rik Blyleven.”

The given name of the Holland-born pitcher is Rik Aalbert Blyleven. He said he isn’t serious about the name change--yet. But since the All-Star break, he is 0-3 in 3 starts, with an earned-run average of 14.30.

“I’d better start winning soon,” he said, “or Rik’s not all they’ll be calling me.”

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: In his last 77 starts, Fernando Valenzuela has pitched one shutout. In his first seven starts as a rookie in 1981, he pitched five shutouts.

Joe Morgan, the Boston manager, gets a lot of mail that’s intended for Joe Morgan, the former Cincinnati second baseman, including pictures to be autographed. What does he do?

“I used to return them with an explanation,” he said. “But it got to be such I hassle, I started to sign them. I’ve got his signature down pretty good.”

Add Morgan: He’s always thinking but admits he sometimes outsmarts himself. He told Tim Kurkjian of the Baltimore Sun: “One night in the minors, I brought in a reliever because of an injury, but the umpires gave him only eight warmup pitches instead of an unlimited amount. So, I told the pitcher to throw to first base to hold the runner on until his arm was ready. While he was throwing to first, the runner on third stole home.”

Trivia Time: Who is the only major league player to get at least 200 hits and 25 home runs in each of the last two seasons? (Answer below.)

Alex Higdon, rookie tight end from Ohio State, ended his holdout with the Atlanta Falcons Saturday, and in the first scrimmage, he got into a fight with Marcus Cotton, rookie linebacker from USC.

“I don’t even know what caused it,” Higdon said.

Neither did Cotton who said, “Just say I’m getting ready for Tyson.”

Just Asking: Has any school ever placed more athletes on an Olympic track and field team than UCLA? Fourteen Bruins, present and past, are going to Seoul--seven men and seven women. In 1936, USC sent 11 athletes to Berlin, all men.

70 Years Ago Today: On July 25, 1918, Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators pitched a four-hitter to beat the St. Louis Browns, 1-0, in 15 innings. The only hit off him in the first 11 innings was a triple by George Sisler.

Trivia Answer: Kirby Puckett of Minnesota.

Quotebook

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, admitting he’s made some enemies over the years: “But for every enemy I make, I make 40 friends. And a lot of them are restaurant owners.”