He Probably Liked the Outfit, but the Price Didn’t Suit Him

George Shirk of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Detroit Piston Coach Chuck Daly, a natty dresser, was shopping in New York recently and was shown a virgin wool suit priced at $1,300.

Said Daly: “I’d rather have something for around $300 from a sheep that fooled around a little.”

How-times-have-changed Dept.: After Lee Trevino picked up $45,000 for winning the Doug Sanders Celebrity tournament in Texas, he recalled that his first professional victory came in the Texas State Open in Sharpstown, Tex. The year was 1965.

Trevino told the Houston Chronicle: “I won $1,000 and said, ‘Cash it.’ I was driving a ’55 Chevy and had a caddie named Fat Jack. We had a $100 bill, stopped at a 7-11 and bought two six-packs of Schlitz, a pound of bologna and a half-loaf of bread. We took off down I-45, and we were rich.

“Now, my wife will get the $45,000, and she’ll probably give me $10.”

Trivia time: What do Mario Andretti, Jose Canseco and Curtis Strange have in common?

Add Andretti: Asked when a driver experiences fear on the track, he said, “When he has no control over the situation. When the suspension breaks or a tire blows out or you slide through somebody else’s oil.

“The worst thing is when it gets real quiet. You know you’re probably off the ground and eventually you’re going to come down and it will probably hurt.”

Dept. of irony: After Unbridled won the Kentucky Derby for 92-year-old Frances Genter, trainer Carl Nafzger drove to Chicago with a horse named Joel to run him in the opening feature at Arlington. Joel finished fourth. The winner was Paramount Jet, owned by 92-year-old Fred Hooper.

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: From the New York Times: “Did Don King try to use the Panamanian leader, Gen. Omar Torrijos, in 1981 to contact Fidel Castro and broach the notion of a $1-million payment to the Cuban sports federation for its amateur heavyweight, Teofilo Stevenson, to turn pro?”

Saw it coming: A few days before Davey Johnson was fired by the New York Mets, Philadelphia’s Lenny Dykstra, a former Met, told the New York Times: “Their defense is playing poorly. With that pitching staff, instead of going out and getting offensive guys, you think they’d get guys who could play defense.

“The Mets’ problems started right after the 1986 World Series when they couldn’t sign Ray Knight. He was important to that club. He was my type of guy.”

Nice options: Danny Ferry says he’ll probably play in the NBA next season, but he wouldn’t mind another season with Il Messaggero in Rome, where last year he lived in a 13th-Century mansion in the shadow of St. Peter’s Square. He had a cook, a maid and a satellite dish. He had a 1989 BMW with a driver on call. His salary was $2 million.

He told USA Today: “If I decide to go back, I have to realize I’ll never live that well again.”

Trivia answer: All three have twin brothers--Aldo Andretti, Ozzie Canseco and Alan Strange.

Quotebook: Bruce Meadows of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat: “The K mart Greater Greensboro Open golf tournament offers a first prize of $150,000--marked down to $129,050.”