Money Is Not Likely to Lure This Prospect

Michael Moore, Beverly Hills High School football and baseball star, is putting baseball on hold as he looks to a career at UCLA as a wide receiver. He can be seen July 29 in the Shrine All-Star game at the Rose Bowl.

In baseball, he was the second pick of the Toronto Blue Jays as an outfielder, but he’s not likely to be dazzled with any big-money promises. His father is a real estate tycoon and his uncle is broadcaster Ahmad Rashad, the former Bobby Moore.

Boston Red Sox scout Joe Stephenson told Sports Illustrated: “He’s the only kid I ever saw that arrived at games in a Rolls-Royce.”

The coldest cash: While funeral services for former Raider John Matuszak were being held Wednesday, the promoter of his final movie was rushing to cash in on the publicity surrounding his death.

Advance copies of “One Man Force” were delivered to Southland media outlets, along with a news release saying that the promoter was “accelerating” promotion of the film, to be released in September.

Is the acceleration an attempt to take advantage of free publicity? The release quotes Robert Baruc, president of Academy Entertainment of Shelburne, Vt., as saying the purpose is to “bring (Matuszak) the recognition he sought and deserved as an actor.” Perhaps that recognition would have been provided if the movie, completed last August, had been released sooner.

Try for 300?If you’re not impressed by Pete Rose’s record of 4,256 hits, Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer puts it this way: “Wade Boggs, who regularly churns out 200 hits a season, turned 31 this month. He would need another 14 full seasons of at least 200 hits in each to overhaul Rose.”

Oh, doctor: From Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench, taking a dim view of a proposed winter league for players 35 and older: “I guess it’s important to have a bunch of 40-year-old guys get rotator cuff surgery. I think the doctors are the ones who came up with the idea for this league.”

Trivia time: What do the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and California Angels have in common?

What’s-in-a-name Dept.: From New York Met slugger Howard Johnson, who grew up in Clearwater, Fla.: “When I was a kid in Clearwater, my mother used to take us to church every Sunday and then to a Howard Johnson’s for treats. The man there got to know my name was Howard Johnson, and he’d give me free ice cream.”

Remembered quote: Said Buzzie Bavasi, former president of the San Diego Padres, when asked a while back about rumors the club would move: “The good news is that we may stay in San Diego. The bad news, I guess, is the same thing.”

Add Bavasi: When he was Dodger general manager and Don Zimmer issued a play-me-or-trade-me ultimatum, Bavasi said: “We played him and now we can’t trade him.”

Add Zimmer: As manager of the Chicago Cubs, he has had his ups and downs but claims he doesn’t worry.

“Worry is when you have cancer or are seriously injured,” he said. “I almost died in 1953 from a pitch to the head. For 13 days I lay in a coma in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital. My wife walked up and down the halls with a baby in her stomach. She didn’t know if she would have a husband. That’s worry.”

Add trades: Cincinnati reliever John Franco, upset that the Reds didn’t make any deals, told USA Today: “It’s like this every year. We sit back and watch what the other teams do. The Giants needed a stopper, so they went out and got one. I guess Al Rosen is thinking today instead of tomorrow.”

Trivia answer: They are the only clubs in baseball not named after cities.

Quotebook: Terry Boers of the Chicago Sun-Times, on Rick Mahorn: “He always plays as if he has a hole in his ozone layer.”