It’s Been a Standoff of Long Standing

Irving Rudd, 71, Top Rank publicist, is working at the training camp of boxer Thomas Hearns.

Says Rudd: “Hearns and I have had a very close relationship. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for me, and that’s how it’s been for 10 years now--we’ve done nothing for each other.”

Was Orel Hershiser really cut from his high school baseball team? It’s news to the kid who caught him.

Rick Santarone, Hershiser’s batterymate at Cherry Hill East (N.J.) High School, told USA Today: “I don’t know how that got started. He made the team all 4 years. He was 9-1 as a senior and holds a lot of school records.”

Trivia Time: When the Dodgers traded away Mickey Hatcher in 1981, whom did they get in return? (Answer below.)

Edmonton Coach Glen Sather, on former Oiler Wayne Gretzky of the Kings: “He deserves Beverly Hills. When he’s sitting around sipping mint juleps by his pool in February, when he’s slumming in his $2.7-million house and driving his Rolls Royce, he’ll be a great inspiration to everybody else.

“Everybody can see what can happen when you work hard and dedicate yourself.”

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: Wrote Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Evening Sun: “Mike Fratello, coach of the Atlanta Hawks team that played three games with the Soviets before the Olympics, offered John Thompson a scouting report on the Russians, but Thompson refused it.”

From Minnesota Vikings Coach Jerry Burns, admitting he’s baffled by the team’s apparent lack of motivation: “Like I told them, ‘If personal pride, team pride and money doesn’t motivate you to be prepared on Sunday, I don’t know what the hell you can do.’ Maybe you can resurrect Knute Rockne or bring in Lou Holtz.”

Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins told Tom Friend of the Washington Post that he would have asked to come out of the Super Bowl at halftime if Mark Rypien had been the No. 2 quarterback instead of Jay Schroeder.

Washington was leading, 35-10, and Williams had a sore knee, but he said he didn’t want to give way to Schroeder, remembering how Schroeder had embarrassed him in the 1986 NFC championship game.

“Schroeder got knocked woozy, and I was sent in to replace him,” Williams said. “I go out there and, next thing, he’s yelling, ‘Get your . . . off the field.’ He waved me off. It was one of the most embarrassing things in my life.

“You know how many people reminded me about that? In this city? I had guys on the team come up and ask me about it. That stood out in my mind, too, at the Super Bowl. I could’ve come out at halftime, but it’d have been hell or high water before I left. If it’d been Rip, I’d have considered coming out of the game.”

Trivia Answer: He was traded to Minnesota along with first baseman Kelly Snider and pitcher Matt Reeves for outfielder Ken Landreaux.

Quotebook

Valentine Petovsky, visiting Soviet track coach, enjoying 85-degree weather in Los Angeles during a tour: “Napoleon should have invaded California.”