Reuss’ Astrodome Debut Paid Dividend for Future Teammate

Early in the 1971 baseball season, pitcher Jerry Reuss, a 21-year-old left-hander with the St. Louis Cardinals, faced the Houston Astros in the Astrodome, his first start in the stadium.

Recalling the game, Reuss told USA Today: “I couldn’t even get out of the first inning. I loaded the bases, then gave up a grand slam.”

The player who hit the grand slam won a new car, as part of an Astro promotion.

The following year, Reuss was traded to Houston. He was welcomed warmly by the player who had hit the grand slam. Said Reuss: “He came up to me and said, ‘Hey, thanks for the car.’ ”

It was Doug Rader.

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: USC has five players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and two of them, Ron Mix and Willie Wood, played on the losingest team in Trojan history.

Mix was a tackle and Wood a quarterback on the 1957 Trojans, who finished 1-9. Other Hall of Famers from USC are O.J. Simpson, Frank Gifford and Morris (Red) Badgro, an end in the 1920s.

Trivia time: Wilt Chamberlain holds the National Basketball Assn. record for consecutive scoring titles with seven. Name the five men who are tied for second with three straight titles.

On the ball: Bernie Kosar, who will quarterback the Cleveland Browns against the Philadelphia Eagles today in London, said he couldn’t believe some of the questions he has been asked by British reporters. Stupid questions? No, just the opposite.

Said Kosar: “They asked me questions like, ‘Well, Cincinnati didn’t sign any unprotected free agents. How do think that will affect the race?’ I haven’t been asked that question in Cleveland.”

37 years ago today: On Aug.6, 1952, Satchel Paige of the St. Louis Browns, at age 47, became the oldest man in major league history to pitch a complete game or a shutout when he beat Virgil Trucks and the Detroit Tigers, 1-0, in 12 innings.

Forgettable: Stan Hochman of the Philadelphia Daily News, researching the 1964 collapse of the Phillies, when they lost 10 in a row, said: “It will forever remain a mystery. The key witnesses, 25 years later, supply vague clues, contradictory testimony, evidence tainted by ego.

“First baseman Frank Thomas could not remember hacking the cast off his busted right thumb to start the fifth game of that losing streak. He did, going 0 for 4.

“Jack Baldschun thought he had pitched in none of the 10 games, maybe one. He pitched in seven, mainly in middle relief.”

Trivia answer: George Mikan, Neil Johnston, Bob McAdoo, George Gervin and Michael Jordan.

Quotebook: Roone Arledge, head of ABC News and former head of ABC Sports, on Howard Cosell: “Sometimes in life you get a bonus. Howard prepared me for Sam Donaldson.”