Just Trying to Clear Things Up About Why Game Was Called

The New York Mets and San Diego Padres can be excused if they didn’t have the foggiest notion what they were doing in last Tuesday night’s game in Shea Stadium.

The players found themselves in the unfamiliar situation of waiting for fog to lift. After two delays totaling 2 hours 25 minutes, the game was called after six innings with the Mets winning, 6-3.

“When I go duck hunting, I pray for a day like this,” Met outfielder Kevin McReynolds said. “But not for playing baseball.”

Foghorns for the outfielders and searchlights for the infielders would have been appropriate.

Trivia time: Who was the first coach to say, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Hint: it wasn’t Vince Lombardi.

Instant I.D. Benny Distefano, a former Pittsburgh Pirate player who played in Japan, recalls a time he was in a bar during spring training.

He ordered a beer and the bartender asked him for identification. Distefano didn’t have his wallet with him.

However, he showed the bartender his baseball card, which showed his date of birth--along with his statistics--and the beer was his.

A very good year: It has been reported that LPGA player Meg Mallon likes to mark her balls with coins minted in 1965, 1966 and 1967. She likes to look down at a good score.

When a story appeared about her preference, she has been deluged with fan mail containing coins from her favorite years.

Mallon said that some people even handed her loose change on the course. A man once tried to give her a coin dated 1865. It was a good score, but she refused to take it because it was a valuable collector’s item.

The lost jump: On May 25, 1963, Washington’s Phil Shinnick, a long jumper, competed in the conference meet at Berkeley. He failed to qualify for the finals.

So, later that same day, he entered the long jump at the California Relays in Modesto. He astounded nearly everybody--and probably himself as well--by jumping 27 feet 4 inches, a world record, breaking the previous mark of 27-3 1/4 set by Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union.

However, a meet official had neglected to activate the wind gauge on Shinnick’s jump and his record was never certified. Onlookers at the time guessed that the wind was under that allowable for record purposes.

Small solace for Shinnick, who lost a world record because of a technical error.

Time stands still: Albert Gutterson of the U.S. won long jump in the 1912 Olympics at 24 feet 11 1/4 inches. That jump would have been good enough to win at the UCLA-USC meet 79 years later.

Trivia answer: Red Sanders, the late UCLA football coach.

Quotebook: Toronto Manager Cito Gaston after Nolan Ryan had beaten the Blue Jays with his seventh no-hitter: “When he pitches, two things can happen. You can lose, or be no-hit.”