He’s Thrown In to Make Others Seem All That Much Greater

Targeting the red-hot sports-collectible market, the Rawlings company is offering special autographed baseballs, available through the J.C. Penney Christmas catalogue.

The balls, complete with display stand, nameplate and certificate of authenticity, bear the signatures of 21 major league “greats of the past and present,” according to the Associated Press.

Why the quote marks? Read the list: Hank Aaron, Yogi Berra, Roger Clemens, Will Clark, Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Dwight Gooden, Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, Reggie Jackson, Willie Mays, Mark McGwire, Kevin Mitchell, Joe Morgan, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Bret Saberhagen, Duke Snider and Jerome Walton.

Jerome Walton?

Trivia time: Before Saturday, when was the last time both defending U.S. Open singles champions lost on the same day?

Think about it: From Steve Fainaru of the Boston Globe, commenting on a group of 150 demonstrators outside Fenway Park who protested cigarette advertising at stadiums:

“It’s hard to get up in arms over tobacco and liquor advertising, but the (Red) Sox are really stretching it with that Marlboro sign, a stone’s throw from the Jimmy Fund billboard.”

The Jimmy Fund, founded in part by Tom Yawkey, the late Red Sox owner, raises money to fight children’s cancer.

Really hurting: Marty Noble of Newsday reported that New York Met shortstop Kevin Elster, troubled by a shoulder injury and batting .207 this season, was mildly offended when Dr. Frank Jobe asked him whether he was a starter or a reliever during a recent examination.

Said Elster: “He must have looked at my average.”

Bright remark: During the telecast of Sunday’s Ram-Packer game at Green Bay, CBS commentator John Madden and announcer Vern Lundquist bantered about measures players took to replace salts during games in hot weather.

Said Madden: “I remember (former Packer guard) Fuzzy Thurston trying to get some electrolytes.”

Said Lundquist: “They didn’t have electric lights when Fuzzy Thurston played.”

Fast fact: The artificial surface at the Hoosier Dome is held down by Velcro.

Mixed reviews: In late July, the Oakland Tribune’s Dave Newhouse wrote that Frank Deford, editor of the National, “lifts writing to a plateau other sportswriters can’t reach” and finished his column: “. . .the National, with the globe at its feet.”

Shortly before the column appeared, Newhouse was interviewed by Sarah Cave for the Montclarion, a neighborhood paper in Oakland.

Wrote Cave: “Newhouse . . . expressed a lack of confidence in the National’s ability to get late scores for the West Coast.”

She quoted Newhouse as saying: “If people want to pick up the National for the final word, it won’t be.”

Trivia answer: In 1979, when Chris Evert lost to Tracy Austin in the women’s final and Jimmy Connors lost to John McEnroe in the men’s semifinals.

Quotebook: University of Pittsburgh Coach Paul Hackett, after his team’s opening 35-3 victory over Ohio University: “I had a dream we won, 12-6, and woke up and said, ‘That’s not going to be enough.’ ”