So Far, He’s Been Striking Out in Efforts to Get Another Life

Mike Schmidt, who hit 548 home runs with the Philadelphia Phillies before he retired in 1989, is getting frustrated with his post-baseball life.

Schmidt tried broadcasting but it didn’t last, he was turned down when he offered to coach the Phillies, and he made an unsuccessful bid to invest in the major league franchise in Miami.

“What am I good for?,” he asked. “I’m getting tired of doing the same thing every day. Do I have to do it the rest of my life? I need something exciting, a reason to rise and shine in the morning.”

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Know your Kohwaks: Amy Frankenstein was recently appointed athletic director at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which prompted a Pittsburgh reader of Morning Briefing--and a Coe alumnus--to ask: “Will she be able to create a monster?”

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Trivia time: Who was the first winner of the U.S. Senior Open golf tournament?

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Early exit: Oakland Athletics’ pitcher Ron Darling, lifted in the third inning after giving up five runs to the Minnesota Twins, was asked which pitch was giving him the most trouble.

“I wasn’t in long enough to know,” he answered.

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Early exit II: Chicago White Sox knuckleballer Charlie Hough, after walking five consecutive batters before being lifted in the first inning: “After a while, I asked if I could pitch from closer in.”

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Killer serve: Player-Coach John Lloyd of the Los Angeles Strings, on San Antonio’s Trevor Kronemann, a four-time All-American at UC Irvine: “We call him ‘the Tank.’ He reminds me of Lurch (on the TV show, ‘The Addams Family,’) but not quite as tall. Plus, he’s always liable to kill a few spectators with his serve.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1934, National League pitcher Carl Hubbell struck out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in succession, but the American League rallied to win the All-Star game at New York’s Polo Grounds, 9-7. AL pitcher Mel Harder gave up only one hit in the last five innings.

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Inflated prices: Tickets for the Nov. 15 Hooters 500 in the Atlanta Motor Speedway grandstand go for $20. That is the final Winston Cup race for Richard Petty, driver of the No. 43 Pontiac.

Chuck and Cheri Howell of Cottage Grove, Tenn., have ticket No. 43 and already have had offers of $2,000 for it.

“I wouldn’t take $50,000 for it right now,” Chuck Howell said. “It’s like the gun that shot Abraham Lincoln. This thing could bring in $300,000 or $400,000.”

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Trivia answer: Roberto DeVicenzo of Argentina in 1980.

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The Terminator: President Bush is sending Arnold Schwarzenegger, chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, to head the U.S. delegation for the closing ceremony at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Reportedly, his speech will be brief: “Hasta la vista, baby.”

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Quotebook: Detroit third baseman Scott Livingstone, a Texas resident, after getting a hit off Nolan Ryan: “I was happy to hit the ball, but I’m not going to say much about that. He might end up being our governor, and I don’t want him to raise my taxes.”