Easy Reading for Fans Who Break the Code

On its cover, “The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball,” a reference book compiled annually by David S. Neft and Richard M. Cohen, is touted as “The Argument Settler--the Only Baseball Book You’ll Ever Need”.

Who can argue with a book that lists no fewer than 85 “Career Interruption Codes”? The list includes:

“CP--Blood poisoning.

“FA--Finger amputated.

“FR--Badly burned.

“GW--Gunshot wounds.”

Add Encyclopedia: Not all of Neft and Cohen’s codes are gruesome or morbid, of course. Some reflect the way baseball has changed with the times:

“IN--Couldn’t play because of injunction issued by Pennsylvania Court in suit brought by Phi. NL.

“RL--Reported late in order to finish school year or returned to school before the end of the baseball season.

“SM--Suspended for playing in the Mexican League.”

And that familiar, multipurpose category: “RP--Attended to personal business.”

Trivia time: Among NCAA Division I-A kickers who have made at least 25 field goals, who holds the all-time record for average distance?

Easternmost in quality: How vast is announcer Vin Scully’s empire? Apparently his commercials on Dodger broadcasts are known throughout the land.

During CBS Radio’s coverage of Game 2 of the World Series Wednesday night, Scully’s partner, Johnny Bench, mentioned that a beach ball had bounced onto the field.

Said Bench: “I wouldn’t have brought it up, except that it had ‘Farmer John’ written on it.”

You can’t look it up: The media virus that turns nouns into verbs (“to prioritize”, “to impact”, “to trend”) struck again Wednesday when KFWB sports reporter Randy Kerdoon said: “The Winnipeg Jets were Gilliganed by the Islanders Tuesday night.”

Linemen in the sand: Charles O. Finley, former owner of the Oakland Athletics, might or might not be paying much attention to his former team this week.

But he did make news Tuesday, sending two truckloads of yellow-striped footballs to U.S. troops in the Middle East.

Finley, who holds the patent on the “easier-to-see” footballs, said: “I want the troops to be among the first to use this football. I think they will agree that this is the football of the future.”

Hey, give him time: Denver Nugget Coach Paul Westhead urged Rocky Mountain folks to have patience with the Nuggets’ new system after they lost an exhibition game, 194-166, to the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night.

Said Westhead: “The system is easy. Doing the system can take a week, a month, a lifetime.”

What a battle: Scratch double-A Jackson, Miss., from the list of New York Mets’ minor league affiliates. In turn, scratch “Mets” as the team’s nickname and replace it with “Generals.”

Other entries among the 385 submitted by fans as part of a team-sponsored contest: Rednecks, Dizzy Deans, Fire Ants, Bluffers, Mississippi Mud, Bootleggers, Boll Weevils, Mudcats, Homeboys, Cotton Bolls, Cotton Mouths, Moonshiners, Magnolias, Chiggers, Pot Lickers, Sharecroppers, Stonewalls, Hound Dogs, Channel Cats, Rowcroppers, Hickories and City Council Are Morons.

Trivia answer: Russell Erxleben of Texas, who averaged 42.4 yards on 49 field goals in 1975-78.

Quotebook: Bill Tammeus of the Kansas City Star: “Some Americans don’t grasp what it’s been like to merge East and West Germany. Well, imagine merging the Oakland A’s with the Atlanta Braves.”