A Noble Thought: Hernandez Could Put Padres Over Top

From Marty Noble of Newsday: “The San Diego Padres will displace the San Francisco Giants as National League West champions next season if they sign Keith Hernandez as a free agent.

“The Padres ought to make that move to protect the investments they made last winter and assure themselves of realizing their potential. Hernandez can make that much difference.

“The Padres don’t necessarily need a first baseman. Jack Clark is in place. But they need Hernandez and all he brings to a team. If the Padres insert Hernandez at first and shift Clark back to the outfield, the outfield defense might suffer, but not nearly so much as the infield defense would improve.

“And who knows? With Hernandez around to impart his wisdom, Tony Gwynn might bat .360, not .340.”

The Padres, at least as of last week, said they are not interested.

A true semi-pro: John Steadman of the Baltimore Evening Sun writes that Dave Johnson, the former truck driver who helped pitch the Baltimore Orioles to one of the most astonishing comebacks in major league history, is a hero to his former co-workers. Steadman quotes Raymond Valentine, operations manager for Bestway: “I dispatched him a lot. He was everything you would want in an employee. Some people believe you just jump in and drive a truck. It doesn’t work that way. You have to take tests and be federally certified and highly qualified.”

Trivia time: The 201 strikeouts by pitcher Jose DeLeon of the St. Louis Cardinals were the fewest by a National League leader since 188 topped the league in 1957. Who led that season?

Successful failure: Jim Henneman of the Baltimore Evening Sun quotes Chicago Cub General Manager Jim Frey on being fired as field manager after winning division titles for the Kansas City Royals in 1980 and the Cubs in 1984: “I won my first year in Kansas City and that wasn’t good enough, and I won my first year in Chicago and that wasn’t good enough. I figured I must have been in the wrong line of work.”

On Cub Manager Don Zimmer, a buddy since high school: “My relationship with Don Zimmer is best explained by saying he doesn’t want to be a general manager and I don’t want to be a manager. We get along pretty good.”

Field of dreams: From Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun: “When Illinois was in Los Angeles for its season opener against Southern Cal, John Mackovic took his players to see the Rose Bowl. Said fullback Howard Griffith: “When I walked in, I was overwhelmed. This is what people work eight or nine months to get to. The Rose Bowl could be played on a parking lot, and it wouldn’t matter.”

Add Markus: Iowa State Coach Jim Walden, on what it’s like to have only 56 uninjured scholarship players: “It’s taken a lot out of me, and it continues to. Every day I go to practice, it takes a lot out of me. It’s like somebody rubbing sandpaper on your cheek.”

Enough is enough: George McDowell, 81, has missed only six Sooner football games, home or away, in the last 40 years. What kept him away from the ones he missed? Sickness, weddings, family emergencies?

“They were at Kansas State,” McDowell said. “I just didn’t want to go.”

Oklahoma leads that series, 59-11-4, and hasn’t lost to the Wildcats since 1970. The Sooners won last year’s game, 70-24; the teams play in Norman, Okla., on Nov. 11.

Trivia answer: The Philadelphia Phillies’ Jack Sanford.

Quotebook: Angel pitcher Jim Abbott, asked if the wooden bat might eventually be replaced by the livelier aluminum bat in the major leagues: “I’ll quit if they go to aluminum bats.”