They Hit the Books All Right

Houston Oilers Coach Jerry Glanville, preparing for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh, revealed that he attended high school with Pirate Manager Jim Leyland in Perrysburg, Ohio.

“He would never come to school,” Glanville said. “He’d make me skip school with him to play games. I can remember the principal bringing us in there and he said, ‘You two will never be successful, you’re always out there playing baseball or football.’ Neither one of you will end up worth a darn.

“You know, he might be right.”

The designated hitter will not be used in the National League park in the World Series, and Oakland Athletics reliever Dennis Eckersley is hoping he gets a chance to show his stuff.

He said that in 1986 with the Chicago Cubs he had 2 homers and 10 runs batted in.

“That’s pretty good for a pitcher,” he said. “I hit better than I pitched.”

He was 6-11 with a 4.57 earned-run average.

Add Athletics: Carney Lansford explained why he’s adopted a low-key attitude: “I can remember winning a division title with the ’79 Angels. We were so satisfied with that, we died in the playoffs.”

Baltimore beat the Angels in 4 games.

Trivia Time: Which quarterback threw for the most yardage in the American Football League? (Answer below.)

Would-you-believe-it dept.: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham and Cincinnati Bengals running back Ickey Woods, named the National Football League offensive players of the week, both played at a school known almost exclusively for its basketball--Nevada Las Vegas.

10 years ago today: On Oct. 13, 1978, Graig Nettles made four spectacular stops at third base, preventing 7 runs, as the New York Yankees beat the Dodgers, 5-1, in the third game of the World Series. It was the first win for the Yankees, who proceeded to win the Series in 6 games.

Can a manager be thrown out of a game if he doesn’t say anything to the umpire? Gene Mauch managed to pull it off when he was at Montreal.

When his players came out to protest a call to the umpire, Mauch said, “The first guy who lays a finger on this blind, old man is fined 50 bucks.”

Walt Zembriski, the former steelworker who earned $135,000 in winning the Vantage Championship, said he’s going to cut back his golf schedule next year.

“This year, I played in every tournament but one,” he told USA Today. “I didn’t go to Albuquerque. They tested an atom bomb there, didn’t they? That’s enough for me.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: As he opened a huge container of lasagna before a game at Shea Stadium, Tom Lasorda told a New York Times writer: “The mother of the manager of the Hyatt makes this for us whenever we’re in New York. Wherever I go, people feed us. I tell my coaches, ‘If anybody asks you how you like their food, you tell them, I don’t know yet.’ That way they keep feeding you.”

Add Dodgers: Steve Sax, on Kirk Gibson: “You ask anybody in the league and they’ll tell you they’d like to have Kirk Gibson. I get on first base and hear guys saying that all the time.”

Trivia Answer: Jack Kemp.

Quotebook

Trainer Angelo Dundee, asked if he was upset when Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali: “ . . . , no. My real name’s not Dundee.”