The Day Before Dying, Father Helped Son Cure Baseball Woes

The year 1983 was a traumatic one for Steve Sax, the Dodger second baseman who suddenly couldn’t throw straight. It was the worst fielding slump of his career, and in the midst of it, his father died of a heart attack in Sacramento.

Sax, now an All-Star with the New York Yankees, told Michael Martinez of the New York Times: “We talked on the phone the night before he died. He told me, ‘One day, you’ll wake up and this whole thing will be gone. I did the same thing when I was in high school.’ And he was right. One day, I got up and it was all over.

“But about two years later, I was talking to my mom about it, and she said, ‘You know, your dad never had that problem. He was just trying to help you get out of it.’ At the shame of his own pride, he told me that to help me get out of it.”

Add Martinez: While conceding that former Yankee Willie Randolph has helped the Dodgers become the National League leader in double plays, he noted that the Yankees, with Sax, have recorded six more double plays than the Dodgers.

Fairy tales?: From Joe Strauss of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution: “Some former teammates are beginning to publicly question the mean-street accounts of his childhood given by Kevin Mitchell. Mitchell speaks freely of his gang involvement growing up in San Diego.

“New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling called Mitchell a pathological liar. Wally Backman, when he was with the Mets, once told him, ‘Mitch, if you got shot as many times as you say, you’d look like a Chinese checkerboard.’

“Mitchell has long maintained that he was a high school football star for three different high schools. The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a story in which it was reported he never played for two of the three schools.”

Trivia time: What do Jim Finks and Nancy Lopez have in common?

Giant intellects: Hall of Fame fullback Jim Brown, at a Browns-NFL Alumni charity golf tournament in Cleveland, said he has completed a new book titled “Out of Bounds” that will be out in September.

“It starts out in Yankee Stadium,” Brown told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Yes, Sam Huff is in the book. I’ll say this, Sam was as smart as anybody who played the game. His New York Giants were 50% brighter than anyone else. They were big and tough but also smart.”

Add Brown: Said Cleveland receiver Brian Brennan, admittedly awed after getting his first up-close look at Brown: “I wanted to go up and introduce myself, but he just looked too intimidating.”

Nothing to it: From Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Dr. Norman Scott said the arthroscopic surgery on Patrick Ewing’s knee was minor. ‘Take a turkey leg, break it open and then gouge out the white, shiny stuff with a fork. Basically, that’s what Patrick had,’ Scott said.”

Ford: “It is not known if the knee was then stuffed and baked at 350 degrees for three hours.”

Add surgery: Bill Walton once said, “I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do the operation on someone else, not you.”

Trivia answer: They both went to the University of Tulsa.

Quotebook: Baltimore pitcher Dave Schmidt, asked about the pressure of leading the American League East: “How tough is it to be in first place? How tough is it to be in last, 80 games out, like last year? That’s a better question.”