Today’s Top Baseball Players Should Study Case of O’Doul

Let’s get this straight.

The Oakland Athletics’ Rickey Henderson thinks he is underpaid at $3 million per season and wants his contract renegotiated. Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder Barry Bonds, who lost his arbitration case and will receive only $2.3 million in 1991, was last seen exchanging scowls and words with his manager, Jim Leyland.

Perhaps they should be made aware of the saga of Frank (Lefty) O’Doul, an outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1930s. In a new book, “Baseball Bloopers and Diamond Oddities,” author Robert Obojski reports that O’Doul won the National League batting title in 1932 with a .368 average--and saw his salary trimmed the next season by $1,000, from $9,000 to $8,000.

Add oddities: Also from Obojski: Bo Jackson struck out his first 21 times at bat while playing at the University of Auburn, and Texas Ranger Manager Bobby Valentine has been ejected by 17 different umpires since 1985.

Last add book: Obojski also notes that great baseball players are not necessarily great judges of talent. Tris Speaker, a lifetime .344 hitter in his 22-year career with Boston, Cleveland, Washington and Philadelphia, made this observation in 1920: “Babe Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching.”

Trivia time: Who were the starters on Bob Knight’s 1975-76 Indiana University basketball team, the last to have an undefeated season?

Ouch: The pundits of Inside Sports magazine are picking the Angels to finish sixth in the American League Western Division, edging out Minnesota for last place.

Just desserts: Reader Barry Ingber is upset about Tuesday’s trivia question (When was the last time USC and UCLA qualified for NCAA basketball tournament in the same season?) because the answer, 1978-79, didn’t elaborate fully that the Trojans lost to DePaul in a second-round game played on UCLA’s home floor at Pauley Pavilion.

Ingber, a USC graduate, claims UCLA fans rooted wildly against the Trojans and got what they deserved in the West Regional final.

“They wanted DePaul, they got DePaul,” Ingber says.

DePaul defeated UCLA, 95-91, advancing to the Final Four.

Add justice: Ingber insists that had the situation been reversed, USC fans would have put their bitter rivalry aside for one day and cheered for the Bruins.

Sure.

Hey, Shorty: Charlotte Hornet guard Tyrone Bogues, at 5 feet 3, is the smallest player in the NBA, but is he the shortest member of his family? Yes. His dad is 5-6, his mom 5-4, and his brothers are 5-7 and 5-5. Said Bogues: “I even got the short end of that deal.”

Trivia answer: Quinn Buckner, Tom Abernethy, Scott May, Bobby Wilkerson and Kent Benson.

Quotebook: Angel outfielder Luis Polonia, asked about a comment by former New York Yankee teammate Pascual Perez: “If I have something to say, I won’t say anything.”