Striking It Rich in Lottery Is Like Striking Out DiMaggio

Remember Mickey McDermott, fun-loving left-hander for the Boston Red Sox in the 1950s? He’s suddenly a rich man. At least his wife is.

Betty McDermott won close to $6 million in the Arizona lottery last month. She and her husband will receive $220,000 in post-tax earnings for the next 20 years.

Mickey told the Boston Globe, “It’s the luck of the Irish. I feel like I just fanned DiMaggio in the ninth inning with the bases loaded.”

Add McDermott: He was a free-spender as a player when he haunted the piano bars, but his wife said, “I get the checks, and I’ve got him on an allowance.”

Mickey said, “That’s right. She gave me a $5 bill and a white shirt, and she told me not to change either one of them.”

More McDermott: He batted over .300 three times with the Red Sox, and he said he heard that Ted Williams and Dominic DiMaggio once went to owner Tom Yawkey and said, “Look, if you take the kid and put him at first or in the outfield, you’ll have him for 20 years. If you leave him on the mound, the other three days he’ll be in a nightclub somewhere, singing.”

Trivia time: Who was Joe DiMaggio’s first wife?

It Had-to-Happen Dept: As Greg Norman addressed a chip on the first playoff hole at Doral, CBS analyst Ken Venturi said, “I would take the flagstick out.” Norman left it in and sank the shot. Tim Simpson, next up, took the flagstick out and rolled the ball over the cup.

Now-It-Can-Be-Told Dept.: Kevin Johnson, who played in his first NBA All-Star game this year, was asked if he asked Phoenix teammate Tom Chambers, a former All-Star MVP, for any advice before the game.

“Yes,” Johnson said. “Tom just told me to get him the ball as much as I can.”

In a nutshell: Trainer Wayne Lukas tells about a cross-country flight he took with weight-conscious jockey Laffit Pincay: “Leaving California, Pincay ate one half of an unsalted peanut. When we arrived in New York five hours later, he ate the other half.”

Scoring big: Said former King Bernie Nicholls after scoring his first goal for the New York Rangers: “I’ve had high tea at the Waldorf. I’ve had dinner at the Tavern on the Green. I’ve scored at the Garden. All I need now is a limo to take me around town and I’ll be all right.”

Now-You-Know Dept.: From the Chicago Sun-Times: “The bar in Harry Caray’s restaurant is 60 feet 6 inches, the distance from home plate to the pitcher’s mound.”

Careful: Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Dispatch said that one major league executive, a critic of the owners’ stand in negotiations, was overheard saying, “To call the owners dumb is an insult to dumb people.”

Trivia answer: Dorothy Arnold, a New York actress.

Quotebook: Dick Motta, coach of the Sacramento Kings, on team harmony: “I don’t like a guy to talk back to me, but I’d rather have a guy who’s mad at me when I pull him than if he’s going to be a (wimp) all of his life.”