Expansion Teams Are Already Being Written Out to Pasture

The two National League expansion teams, the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins, have drawn critical comment from their local media.

Denver Post columnist Woody Paige said he would prefer the nickname, “Cows,” so that when the team is in a losing streak while on the road, fans can rationalize their disappointment by saying, “Things will be different when the Cows come home.”

Palm Beach (Fla.) Post columnist Dave George had this to say about the Marlins: “The 1993 Florida Marlins are going to smell worse fresh than other fish do after a week.”

Trivia time: City Council President John Ferraro was a two-time All-American lineman at USC. Which years was he honored?

Sticking point: Javelin thrower Mike Barnett went to La Playa Stadium in Santa Barbara last week to try to get a qualifying mark for this year’s World Championships in Tokyo.

He got it with a throw of 276 feet 3 inches. Spectators were on the field while Barnett was warming up, prompting this warning from Santa Barbara City College Coach Robin Paulsen: “If you get stuck by the javelin, we’re going to leave it in you until we measure it,” the Santa Barbara News-Press reported.

Knows his limits: Cherokee Parks, 6 feet 11 and one of the country’s hottest basketball recruits, who is headed for Duke, was asked whether he was valedictorian of his graduating class at Huntington Beach Marina High. He smiled and replied: “I’m the tallest in my class, I know that.”

The other side: There is more to Jose Canseco than speeding tickets and middle-of-the-night visits to Madonna’s New York apartment. As Oakland Manager Tony La Russa said, “There’s a lot of (nice) stuff about Jose you never read, but it’s there.”

Like the scene one afternoon when Canseco and his wife, Esther, with whom he is reunited, were sunbathing poolside outside the hotel where the A’s were staying in Arlington, Tex. When Jose got into the pool, he spent his time playing with some delighted children. And the afternoon ended with Canseco treating 33 youngsters to lunch at the hotel restaurant.

Trivia answer: 1944 and ’47.

Big is beautiful: Tony Gwynn is hitting almost .350 but gets ribbed continually about his rotund shape.

“People think that if I’d lose 20 pounds, I’d be much quicker,” he said. “I wouldn’t be. This is my shape, and there isn’t much I can do about it at this stage of my career. But every ballpark I go to, I hear all the fat jokes: ‘Hey, Snack Bar,’ or, ‘Hey, get that hamburger out of your pocket.’ ”

Long time ago: Carlton Fisk played in his first All-Star game in 1972, along with Nolan Ryan. Six others who played in the 1972 All-Star game played in the old-timers’ game at Toronto. Honorary captains Rod Carew of the American League and Henry Aaron of the National League and NL Manager Lou Piniella were also in the game.

Quotebook: Mike Gallego of the Oakland Athletics, whose previous season-high for home runs was three, after hitting his fifth homer Monday night: “That puts me on a pace to hit six.”