Last Line on Reggie’s Eye Chart: T-A-K-E T-H-A-T, G-E-O-R-G-E

More from the upcoming book “Damned Yankees,” by Bill Madden and Moss Klein:

After a couple of defensive lapses, Reggie Jackson was asked by Yankee owner George Steinbrenner to have his eyes examined. Jackson was offended.

Shortly after the eye test, coach Jeff Torborg, now manager of the Chicago White Sox, threw batting practice for Jackson in Detroit. Jackson asked pitcher George Frazier to shag fly balls. Frazier said he would.

“OK,” Jackson said. “Go sit in the upper deck.”

Frazier says: “What happened next was the most unbelievable display of hitting I ever saw. Of the two dozen or so balls Torborg threw to him, there wasn’t but two that didn’t leave the ballpark, and most of them landed in the upper deck.”

When Frazier came back to the clubhouse, Jackson was waiting.

“Go tell The Man what you think of my eyesight,” Jackson said.

Trivia time: On Feb. 27, 1959, which team beat the then-Minneapolis Lakers in the highest-scoring game in NBA history?

Chomping at the bit: New York Met pitcher Dwight Gooden needs spring training to test his right shoulder, which was injured and kept him out of all but two games after the All-Star break last season.

Said Gooden of the lockout by baseball’s owners: “I’ve been working hard, throwing about 75%, and I feel good. But until I face live hitting, until the adrenaline pumps and I let it go, I won’t know if I’m back. I don’t know now, and it’s killing me.”

Add Gooden: The right-hander has another reason to want the gates opened. He is 17-2 in April with a 2.06 earned-run average. After April, he is 83-37 with a 2.73 ERA.

Add Mets: Relief pitcher Roger McDowell of the Philadelphia Phillies, on being traded by the Mets: “It was hard to be happy. And it wasn’t just my situation. Keith (Hernandez) was hurt and spending time in the clubhouse. He was real frustrated. Kid (Gary Carter) was frustrated, too. And the guys behind him (Barry Lyons and Mackey Sasser) weren’t real happy. Straw (Darryl Strawberry) didn’t have a good year. Doc (Dwight Gooden) got hurt . . . There was a lot of frustration and resentment in the clubhouse.”

Running on two cylinders: The Boston Celtics’ Kevin McHale, after a recent loss to the Utah Jazz: “You’ve got to have more margin for error than we do now. We’re a very fragile team. If we’re out of sync, it’s a disaster. We’ve got to have more room for error than we give ourselves.

“We should be going zoom, zoom, but instead it’s clunk, clunk, clunk.”

Add NBA: NBA cards are bringing in about $50,000 per week in the Oregon Lottery--about $200,000 per week less than expected. “People don’t want to bet on anything except football,” said lottery director Jim Davey.

Trivia answer: The Boston Celtics won, 179-139. The Celtics set records for most points (179), most points in a half (90), most points in a quarter (52) and most field goals (72). Boston’s Tom Heinsohn was the leading scorer with 43 points and Bob Cousy had 31 points and an NBA-record 28 assists.

Quotebook: Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers, being interviewed by about 50 reporters at an All-Star news conference. “I never realized you could get so many ugly guys together at the same time.”