Sheffield’s a Double Threat to Win Postseason Awards

Bits and pieces . . .

Let me count the awards San Diegans could win in the aftermath of the 1992 National League baseball season . . .

MVP--Gary Sheffield.

It could be a gimme if he wins the triple crown, but guys such as Fred McGriff (homers and runs batted in) and Tony Gwynn (watch his batting average climb) could get in the way of that .

Comeback Player of the Year--Sheffield.

I’m not sure he really qualifies, however, because he never had what might be called a super season in Milwaukee.

Rookie of the Year--Eric Karros.

So what if he plays for those guys up the road. He’s a San Diego kid.

Cy Young--Sorry, no one’s home here.

Manager of the Year--Greg Riddoch.

If the Padres should win this thing, who else?

Executive of the Year--Joe McIlvaine.

See Riddoch.

Unfortunately, there is no category for most underrated player. The Major Soccer League, bless its departed soul, had something called an Unsung Hero Award for its playoffs. Maybe baseball needs the same.

Darrin Jackson would be a fit.

The Padres have had three Cy Young Award winners--Randy Jones, Gaylord Perry and Mark Davis--but none of them are in the San Diego Hall of Fame.

No, no Randy Jones.

It’s about time that oversight is corrected.

The only pitcher in the San Diego Hall is Don Larsen, who had his career in one afternoon pitching in the 1956 World Series. Nothing he did before or after that perfect no-hitter would have earned him recognition in any Hall of Fame.

Has the Executive of the Year ever fired the Manager of the Year?

San Diego State’s football schedule reminds me of the top of the Padres’ batting order.

The Aztecs, in order, face USC, Brigham Young and UCLA.

Couldn’t Fred Miller find a way to schedule Notre Dame as the No. 4 “hitter” in the SDSU batting order?

Padre fans who boo Benito Santiago and Randy Myers should be thankful there are dummies like them in Milwaukee who booed Gary Sheffield out of town.

If (or more likely when) Santiago and Myers go elsewhere to enjoy success and happiness, those same fans will be grousing about management letting talent get away.

I’ve never been able to understand the pack mentality that causes some hometown players to be mercilessly booed and others to be enthusiastically embraced.

This dichotomy has been at work with Charger quarterbacks as well as Padre players.

Billy Joe Tolliver could do absolutely nothing right en route to a 6-10 season in 1990. The only applause he heard was when he was traded in the 1991 preseason.

John Friesz could do absolutely nothing wrong as Tolliver’s replacement en route to a 4-12 record in 1991.

These were both bright, young athletes, fresh from college, trying their best to succeed with a struggling football team. Tell me why one was accepted and the other wasn’t.

Next up is Stan Humphries.

Who knows whether the multitudes will love him or loath him . . . and how long it will take them to decide.

All of the legal and political machinations seem to be driving the idea of a sparkling new San Diego sports palace further and further into the future . . . if at all.

Anchorage, Amarillo and Antioch may well have 22,000-seat arenas--and NBA and NHL tenants--before this city figures out how to get together and get it done.

In truth, considering how the Padres draw when they are not distributing freebies, San Diego’s ability to support NBA or NHL teams has to be called into question.

Maybe the Giants’ proposed move to St. Petersburg will re-scramble the National League’s scrambled divisional alignment.

The Florida Marlins could be moved from the east to the west, making for a “western” swing through Miami, Atlanta and St. Petersburg. Moving the Colorado Rockies to the east would make for an “eastern” swing through Chicago, St. Louis and Denver.

Maybe the NL needs to align itself north and south rather than east and west.

San Diego State basketball seemingly waved the white flag when it “red-flagged” Jerry Tarkanian.

Not only has it taken a backward step into on-campus Peterson Gym for its home games, but now its holiday basketball tournament is in its final year. One of this year’s participants, Texas, wants out of what is a diminished field which includes the likes of Azusa Pacific.

It looks very much like basketball is being de-emphasized at SDSU.

They must be going absolutely bonkers in Honolulu at the announcement that the Aloha Bowl (make that Jeep Eagle Aloha Bowl) has first choice of Western Athletic Conference teams other than the champion.

Marcia Cherner, the executive director, exulted: “It is a very important element of our strategy for positioning ourselves for the 21st century.”

Heaven knows what might have happened to the Hawaiian Islands without it.