This Old Pitcher Simply Won’t Be Written Off

Collier Books has published a 20th-anniversary edition of Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four,” the book that opened the floodgates for a genre of kiss-and-tell sports publishing.

In a new chapter, “Twenty Years Later . . . Ball Six,” Bouton brings up Pete Rose’s banishment:

“Pete Rose gets banned for life for gambling while drug addicts are allowed back after a year, and then they get extra chances after that. Baseball is saying, in effect, that gambling is worse than drugs. How do kids make sense out of that?”

Probably not “Ball Four”: In 1988, Baltimore Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. and his wife, Kelly, donated $250,000 for the construction of the Ripken Learning Center, which opened Monday.

The center helps adults learn to read and do basic math, providing counselors, computers and individual attention from teachers.

The Associated Press reported that at the opening ceremony, Ripken “threw out the first book.”

Trivia time: Who was the last American League pitcher to get a pinch-hit?

Betting with bob: The Guardian of London recently reported that a Stockport, England, housewife bet 10 pounds at 100-1 that Steffi Graf and Boris Becker will marry each other before the 1995 Wimbledon Championships.

Unsolved mysteries: How did Alcorn State University get its nickname, the Braves? If anyone knows, get in touch immediately with sports information director Gus Howard in Lorman, Miss.

The publication, “Nicknames and Mascots,” called Howard two months ago with the question, and he still hasn’t found the answer.

If Howard’s research reaches a dead end, he can always follow the lead of Steve Eddington, sports information director for the Henderson State Reddies in Arkadelphia, Ark.

What is a Reddie? Said Eddington: “We try to make it out to be a mystical truth that only our students and players can feel. In simple terms, it just refers to the color of our uniforms.”

Child’s play: Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser, on John McEnroe: “Watching him play, you see a balloon that’s been blown up to the bursting point and suddenly let go, and the air escapes, making it do those loony circles until it falls to earth limp and exhausted.”

Add balloons: Two newspapers in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, reported that a balloon launched in Rome at the opening ceremony of soccer’s World Cup landed at a school in the village of Cuchilla Alta, about 100 miles northwest of Tegucigalpa.

However, Reuters reported Wednesday, the published stories were false.

The papers, El Tiempo and La Prensa, based their reports on a local radio bulletin.

Cuchilla Alta school director David Paredes said he has never heard of the person quoted, named on the radio as Hector Madrid.

Still, Paredes told El Tiempo, “I am sorry that many people have been surprised but also I am pleased that the name of our humble village has gone around the world and that in Honduras they know that we exist.”

Trivia answer: Tim Lollar of the Boston Red Sox, on Aug. 12, 1986.

Quotebook: Jody Reed, whose grounder helped the Boston Red Sox become the first team in major league history to hit into two triple plays in one game: “It’s like landing on the moon.”