Dodger Outfielder Simply Refused to Be Fenced In

Players such as former Dodger Pete Reiser were the reason that outfield walls were first padded and warning tracks first installed, according to the Allegheny (Pa.) Bulletin.

His 1981 obituary said that he was carried from the field 11 times after running into walls.

Reiser won a National League batting title in 1941, but the succession of concussions, separated shoulders and broken bones--and related headaches and dizziness--allowed him to play seasons of 100 or more games only three more times. He retired in 1952.

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Add Reiser: “Pete Reiser may have been born to be the best baseball player that ever lived, but there was never a park big enough to contain his effort,” Red Smith wrote. “He was a man of immeasurable skills and unconquerable spirit who played the game the only way he knew how--hitting, running, sliding, crashing into outfield walls until he had literally broken his magnificent body to bits.”

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Trivia time: Who was the first player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles championship while wearing short pants?

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Forgettable forecast: From Sport magazine’s Olympic preview: “Forget all those Dan vs. Dave ads that Reebok has been trumpeting. In the men’s decathlon, it’s Dan O’Brien all the way; Dave Johnson will be lucky if he cops the bronze.”

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But, you might lose, too: Sign on a billboard, advertising Hollywood Park: “It’s just like the lottery, only you might win.”

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Fashion filibuster: Wrote Craig Davis of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, regarding the expansion Florida Marlins’ recently unveiled uniforms, which will include Sundays-only sleeveless jerseys: “Vested jerseys are like the Lava Lamp, a quirk of the ‘60s that passed without much lament.

“But it probably makes sense in a place like South Florida, where junk that most people discarded while John Glenn was still an astronaut is recycled as art. Thankfully, the Marlins aren’t bringing back bell-bottoms.”

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Drop shot: In a list of “Women We Don’t Like,” Esquire magazine included Monica Seles, describing her as “a woman who desperately wants to be a bimbo but will never be classy enough.”

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No shame: From Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Sun: “Let’s hear it for Dennis Erickson of the University of Miami. The football coach, playing in the Celebrity Golf Championship on national TV, scored 203 (95-108) for the first two rounds, but allowed his scores to be posted, something not too many other athletes would do.”

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Clearing the smoke: From Tom Gage of the Detroit News: “Would somebody please tell the ESPN ‘SportsCenter’ magpies that Juan Berenguer is not ‘Senor Smoke?’ Never has been, never will be. Aurelio Lopez was ‘Senor Smoke.’ Juan is just Juan.”

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Trivia answer: Jack Kramer, in 1947. Like most players during his era, Kramer wore long pants at the start of his career, switching to shorts in 1940.

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Quick work: Kramer won the 1947 final in 47 minutes.

“Can you imagine?” said Kramer, who defeated Tom P. Brown, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. “Now, they can’t even play a set in 47 minutes.”

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News flash: Among those participating in next month’s Magic Johnson/Jerry West executive basketball camp at Kaanapali, Hawaii, according to a news release dated June 30, will be “assistant Lakers’ Coach Randy Pfund.”

Pfund became head coach on May 18.

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Quotebook: USC football Coach Larry Smith: “We’re trying to . . . regain our true identity. We’re a USC team, but I don’t think people respect us anymore.”