Carlton Would Use Old Raiders as His Model for Building Team

Now that he’s retired, Steve Carlton is talking to the press again, and he has some interesting things to say.

For one thing, he thinks baseball is too antiseptic.

“If I were a general manager,” he told USA Today, “I’d assemble a club like the old Oakland Raiders. They exemplified what it takes to get the job done in the fashion I like to see it done--total dedication, not afraid to get dirty, whatever it takes to get the job done.

“It’s a foxhole mentality. Who do you want to die with. It’s like a war.”

Question: Would he talk to the war correspondents?

Mr. Quotable: How glib is Detroit Pistons Coach Chuck Daly? He told Bill Modoono of the Pittsburgh Press, “I can get you a Pulitzer Prize in a 10-minute interview.”

Add Daly: Asked about the loss of Rick Mahorn, he said, “So what do I do now? I put mousse in my hair like Pat Riley and figure out a way for us to score 160 points a game and give up 158.”

Trivia time: Who is the last player-manager to perform for a winning team in the World Series?

It took time: The Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette, reviewing George Raveling’s recruiting at Iowa, said his first crop was a bust, but that his 1985 crop was a winner.

Included were B.J. Armstrong, Roy Marble, Ed Horton, Kevin Gamble and Les Jepsen. Gamble is with the Boston Celtics. Armstrong and Marble were first-round picks in this year’s National Basketball Assn. draft; Horton was a second-round pick. Jepsen is still at Iowa.

Why escape?: Oakland A’s catcher Terry Steinbach is from New Ulm, Minn., a predominantly German community. Kit Stier of the Oakland Tribune, doing a story on the town, learned that German prisoners were kept there during World War II.

“They worked in farms and in the meat-packing plant,” Stier was told by an old-timer. “There were no guards, and they would go back to camp at night. The girls here liked them.”

A no-go: Todd Peat, 300-pound guard for the Phoenix Cardinals, was late to practice Friday, but General Manager Larry Wilson said the big fellow had an excuse.

It seems that Peat had an awful time producing a sample for the urinalysis test, even though he drank 19 cups of fruit juice.

Said Wilson: “His cup not runneth over.”

Seven years ago today: On July 30, 1982, the Atlanta Braves removed Chief Noc-A-Homa and his teepee from left field to make room for more seats. The Braves lost 19 of their next 21 games and blew a 10-game lead. The Braves brought back the teepee, and the team regained first place.

Add oddities: From Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Evening Sun: “Pick four winners in Oregon’s lottery based on the point spread in NFL games and the payoff is 8 for 1. The going rate among bookies is 10 for 1. Inflation, right?”

Trivia answer: Cleveland Indians shortstop Lou Boudreau, in 1948.

Quotebook: Hall of Fame guard Bob Cousy, recalling when Ohio State forward John Havlicek joined the Boston Celtics: “I said he was a non-shooter who would burn himself out. Sixteen years and 30,000 points later, I was proved right.”