Specter of McDonald’s Past Becomes an Oriole Teammate

Serious fans of college baseball need not be reminded that in the 1987 College World Series, Stanford’s Paul Carey hit a grand slam off Louisiana State’s Ben McDonald, keeping the Cardinal alive en route to the NCAA title.

This week, the Baltimore Orioles acquired Carey, who played last season with the independent Class-A Miami Miracle.

When Jim Henneman of the Baltimore Evening Sun told McDonald that Carey would be his new teammate, the pitcher said: “Good. I’m going to hit him in the ribs with the first pitch.”

Add McDonald-Carey: McDonald added: “(Carey is) a good player, a good hitter with power. I’m glad we got him. But I really don’t know him. That (time in 1987) was the only time I ever faced him. I’ve never met him, never talked to him. In fact, I’ve never even seen him since then except once on television when he was a senior.”

To remind himself of Carey’s home run, McDonald hung a photo of Stanford’s celebration in his locker for the next two years at LSU. Said McDonald: “And I still have it at home.”

Trivia time: Paul Carey holds the Pacific 10 Conference’s home run record, 56 in a career. Which two players are tied for second, with 54?

Mr. Stats: It happened during the Dodgers’ opening game of spring training Thursday.

The Dodgers trailed, 6-0, in the seventh inning when minor leaguer Butch Davis hit a pinch-hit home run.

Said announcer Ross Porter: “That’s Davis’ first home run of the season.”

Jim Palmer, CA. 90210: Recent Morning Briefing items on Jim Palmer rattled the woodwork enough to shake out two more Beverly Hills American Little League veterans, Steven Herbert and Stuart Weiss.

Weiss writes that as a youngster playing Little League in Beverly Hills, he came across Palmer’s name in the record book.

He adds: “When I asked some of the coaches in the league, ‘Is this the Jim Palmer?’ They all said yes, but no one knew when he came, when he left, whether or not he went to Beverly Hills High School, etc. etc. Here was a big leaguer from our community and no one had any details. . . . To the best of my knowledge, he is the only B.H.L.L. alumnus who ever made it to the bigs. A Hall of Famer no less!”

Add Palmer mania: Both Herbert and Weiss (like uncounted thousands of Beverly Hills Little League mavens) were able to produce documentary evidence that the B.H.L.L. record for strikeouts in a season (121), which Palmer set in 1958, was equaled in 1967 by Dana Barry and broken by Danny Harris in 1973--albeit, as pointed out earlier by reader Howard Cole, after the league schedule had been lengthened.

Trivia answer: Mark McGwire of USC, from 1982-84; and Jeff Hainline of Northern Division member Gonzaga University, from 1984-86 and 1988.

Quotebook: Tom Murphy, basketball coach at academically demanding Hamilton College: “It’s kind of tough going to practice and you’re supposed to be the coach and you’re the dumbest one there.”