Brown Has a Way of Spelling Things Out in Black and White

Jim Brown, National Football League Hall of Fame running back, actor and author, in USA Today:

“Blacks have never understood how to truly become a collective, integral part of society. We’re great individual achievers. Martin Luther King was a great man. He motivated people, but he never understood how to advance in this society. He thought it was based upon a little black kid and a little white kid holding hands walking up a hill. Wall Street doesn’t care about that.”

Add Brown: On Dodger Jackie Robinson, who broke major league baseball’s color barrier: “He had to suppress himself when he played for the Dodgers. Then he risked everything to be outspoken. But I don’t know anyone speaking out right now. Eric Dickerson, no. Magic (Johnson), no. Everyone’s afraid. You can make more money being an image--the right image.”

Last add Brown: Asked if he wants to be remembered for his NFL accomplishments or for his politics: “Football is about fun and games and money. Freedom is about our souls, so there’s no comparison.”

Early-warning system: Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post quotes former tennis star Arthur Ashe: “A typical black athlete comes from a family that is eight times as likely to push him toward a career in sports, seeing it as the only way out. . . . The screening process for young black athletes is so good and so coldblooded that only the very best are playing (past age 14).

“By 12 through 14, we know who (the best black athletes) are and what they can do. Everybody else on the playground is told, in effect: ‘You sit down. You’re not good enough.’ ”

So, Ashe said, promising young black athletes must be identified no later than the eighth grade and told “the facts of life--what is expected if they expect a college scholarship.”

Trivia time: On Sept. 29, 1954, Willie Mays made his famous over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz’s drive to deep center field against the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series. Whose home run won the game for the Giants?

Keep it to yourself: Philadelphia Phillies Manager Nick Leyva, explaining to the Sporting News why he pulled outfielder John Kruk from a recent game after Kruk grounded out: “You could hear him scream, ‘. . .!’ all over the field. If these guys are upset or frustrated, that’s not the way to express it. You hit a ground ball, you bust your tail to get up the first-base line, and that’s it.”

Add Kruk: From Tim Kurkjian of the Baltimore Sun: “Philadelphia Phillies outfielder John Kruk walked to the plate with the bases loaded in the 12th inning Sept. 17 at Veterans Stadium. He already had left the bases loaded twice. As he stood in the box, the fans stood and cheered. He stepped out of the box, looked at the catcher and said, ‘The Eagles must have won.’ He was right. He stepped back in the box and hit the next pitch for a game-winning grand slam.”

Trivia answer: Pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes homered off Bob Lemon in the 10th inning to give the Giants a 5-2 victory.

Quotebook: Bill Shoemaker, 58, on the ovation a crowd of 10,114 at Canterbury Downs in Minnesota gave him Saturday: “It’s quite a surprise to get that good a reception. In New York, one guy called me a dinosaur.”