Chip Off Caray Block Proves to Be Redwood

Chip Caray, hired as TV play-by-play announcer for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Assn., is a grandson of Harry Caray, announcer for the Chicago Cubs, and the son of Skip Caray, announcer for the Atlanta Braves.

Grandpa Harry told Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, “I think he’s a talent. Look at the kid. The Magic’s female audience should really increase.”

Said Schmitz: “True, at a handsome and trim 6 feet 5, Chip doesn’t look like a member of the Caray family tree.”

Said Skip: “I hate the kid’s guts. He’s tall, good-looking, in shape and single.”

Take a look: If you’re not impressed by Bert Blyleven’s 58 shutouts, here are the numbers for some Hall of Fame pitchers: Robin Roberts and Whitey Ford 45 each, Sandy Koufax 40, Carl Hubbell 36, Lefty Grove 35 and Dizzy Dean 26.

Fernando Valenzuela had 26 after the 1986 season but has thrown only one since.

Trivia time: What active major league player has the most hits?

Spoil-sport: One of the duties of Lorraine Medoro, the left-field ballgirl for the Philadelphia Phillies, is to warm up the opposing team’s left fielder by playing catch.

“All except the Dodgers.” Medoro told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Tommy Lasorda told me he pays the bullpen catcher to do things like that. Good sport, huh?”

Add ballgirl: She said the left fielder who made the biggest impression was Tracy Jones, a former National Leaguer now playing for the Detroit Tigers.

“The guy’s a wild man,” she said. “He fires the ball back to me like he’s trying to throw somebody out at third. Somebody from the lower foul-line boxes yelled to him once, ‘Hey, Tracy, who are you named after, your mother?’

“He went nuts. After the inning, he ran right after the guy. Security people had to hold him back.”

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: When Tom Watson arrived in Troon, Scotland, for the British Open, he found he was 80-1 in one of the betting shops.

“But the bookie recognized me,” Watson told the Sporting News. “He’d only give me 40-1.”

No threat: Said Philadelphia’s Bob Dernier, after striking out against the Montreal Expos’ Mark Langston, making him one for 25 as a pinch-hitter: “Manny Mota can rest easy as far as I’m concerned.”

One world: Detroit Lions Coach Wayne Fontes said he was congratulated recently by a fan who thought Fontes had become the first Puerto Rican head coach in the National Football League.

“He said his group was having a parade and he wanted me to be in it,” Fontes said. “I told him, ‘I’m Portuguese, not Puerto Rican, but I’ll still ride in your float.’ ”

Good-news-bad-news Dept.: Dallas Cowboys scout John Wooten says of 5-3, 145-pound kick returner Tyrone Thurman: “Super Flea may just have the best hands we’ve seen in training camp. But unfortunately, his hands aren’t very large.”

G-r-r-r: Defensive end Bruce Smith of the Buffalo Bills, on unsigned Green Bay Packers tackle Tony Mandarich: “I’m just looking forward to the day I can shut his mouth up. I hope they trade him to a team we play twice a year. That would be nice.”

Trivia answer: Bill Buckner of the Kansas City Royals with 2,702.

Quotebook: Pat Williams, general manager of the Orlando Magic, on the city of Miami, home of the Heat: “There are three ways to pay for things over there. Cash, credit card or ‘Stick ‘em up.’ ”