Is Poison Pen Just Too Much? Gehrig Had Idea for Antidote

It’s nothing new that baseball players and sportswriters don’t get along. Apparently, even Lou Gehrig didn’t care for writers.

David Halberstam, in his book “Summer of ‘49,” tells of the time Bill Slocum, a New York sportswriter, became sick after eating a hot dog.

Halberstam writes: “The Yankee doctor gave Slocum some medicine. Someone mentioned it to Lou Gehrig, a man about whom it was believed nothing critical had ever been written. Gehrig said, ‘A writer sick. Good, I hope he gave the son of a . . . rat poison.’ ”

Trivia time: Last season, who won the Gold Glove Award as the best fielding pitcher in the National League?

A difficult trick: Have you heard the one about the baseball announcer who was having trouble with his wire machine in the press box? It was giving him wrong scores and wrong names all night. Finally, he said, “Now look at this. Felton started the game in Minnesota and now they’ve got him relieving himself on the mound.”

Yogi who?Joe Garagiola, in his book “It’s Anybody’s Ballgame,” tells this one on his lifelong friend, Yogi Berra:

“Carmen Berra, after 30 years of marriage, got an anniversary card signed ‘Yogi Berra.’ She asked her husband why he signed his last name. ‘Were you worried I would think it came from another Yogi?’ ”

Always the visiting team: Brother Denys Cormier, a monk who runs a soup kitchen in New Haven, Conn., has formed a group of homeless men into a softball team named the Soupers.

“A lot of people have asked where is our home field,” Brother Denys said. “As homeless people, I tell them it’s appropriate we don’t have one.”

Trivia answer: Orel Hershiser.

Quotebook: Joe Garagiola: “Why do people say, ‘He’s standing next to the bald guy?’ Why don’t I ever hear anybody say, ‘He’s standing next to the guy with hair.’ ”