Advertisement

Lasorda Has Tale for Most Everything

Share

Joe Ferguson and the rest of the Dodger coaches were honored at a luncheon benefiting the Hollenbeck Youth Center Thursday, reminding some of a story Manager Tom Lasorda likes to tell.

Ferguson was catching for the Dodgers during a game at Dodger Stadium, Mickey Hatcher was playing third base and there was a runner on third with two out. Normally, if a grounder is hit to third in that situation, the play is to first for the easy out.

“A grounder was hit to Hatcher, and I’m getting ready to watch his throw to first,” Lasorda said. “If you’re the catcher on the play, you run down to first to back up the throw.

Advertisement

“So where does Hatcher throw the ball? He throws home. And the amazing thing is Fergie is there to make the play.

“Hatcher comes off the field and I say, ‘What the hell are you doing throwing home with two outs,’ and he says, ‘I thought there was one out.’

“Then I turn to Ferguson and say, ‘Why weren’t you running to first to back up the throw?’

“And Fergie says to me, ‘When you play with dummies you have to think dumb.’ ”

Trivia time: Who holds the NBA All-Star records for most field goals attempted and most field goals made in a single game. (Answer to follow.)

A network executive was somewhat taken aback the other day when Harold Rossfields Smith, who served four years for embezzling $21.3 million from Wells Fargo Bank, called to pitch Olympic middleweight Roy Jones Jr., whom he said he was promoting.

Asked how he obtained a promoter’s license, Smith said: “My problem wasn’t boxing, it was banking.”

From Bruce Keidan of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on schools who have said they voted yes on Proposal 42 by accident:

Advertisement

“Isn’t there anyone who voted for Proposal 42 on purpose? Maybe you ought to have to score 700 or higher on the SAT to qualify as a delegate to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. convention. Some of the delegates to this month’s convention apparently could not spell cat if you gave them a three-letter head start.”

From Bob Smirzik of the Pittsburgh Press: “This is greed: About the same time his agent said no to a $2-million offer from the Boston Red Sox, pitcher Roger Clemens was charging $8.50 for an autograph in the Boston area. How much money to you need, Roger?”

Talk about stretching for an angle. This comes from a CBS-TV press release:

“Although George Washington and Abraham Lincoln weren’t around when Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball in 1891, the former chief executives would undoubtedly have enjoyed watching two of the NBA’s best teams battle on the day commemorating their births.

“If they were alive and owned a television, they could do just that when ‘The NBA on CBS’ presents the Houston Rockets at the Cleveland Cavaliers, live on President’s Day, Monday, Feb. 20.”

For the record: Pete Maravich did, indeed, score 66 points for LSU against Tulane on Feb. 10, 1969, and the score of the game was, indeed, 110-94, but it was Tulane that won, not LSU, as reported here Friday.

Trivia answer: Rick Barry holds the record for most field goals attempted, 27 in 1967, and Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan share the record for most field goals made, 17. Chamberlain got the record in 1962 and Jordan tied it last year.

Quotebook

William Sanders, on why he wants his son Barry to bypass his senior year at Oklahoma State: “If he’s going to play 11 games next year, he might as well play 16 and make some money.”

Advertisement
Advertisement