They Know That It Isn’t a Seedy Place

When a group of teen-age baseball players from the state of Washington visited China recently, they took packets of sunflower seeds with them so they could chew and spit in the dugout, the way major leaguers do.

Gary Jackson of the Everett, Wash., Herald, reports that when their coach, Scott Knight, learned that spitting is considered impolite in China, the bags of seeds went unopened.

If he can rid the game of spitting, maybe Knight should be a candidate for commissioner of baseball.

Reverse trend: New York Yankee teammates of third baseman Charlie Hayes, thought to be a nonsmoker, were shocked the other day when Hayes was seen smoking a cigarette in the clubhouse after the Yankees ended a six-game losing streak.

A victory cigarette, perhaps?

“I’m trying to calm my nerves down,” Hayes explained. “It ain’t a habit. . . . I hadn’t been out there in a while.”

Hayes missed the previous 14 games because of a dislocated finger.

Trivia time: What do George Halas, Walt Kowalczyk, Ken Ploen, Leroy Hoard and Billy Joe Hobert have in common?

Black on black: San Diego State, distinctive with its black football uniforms, has put out a promotional packet touting Marshall Faulk for the Heisman Trophy--mailed in an all-black envelope.

One man’s opinion: Formula One driving champion Nigel Mansell will galvanize Indy car racing, claims Englishman Frank Williams, owner of Mansell’s F1 car.

“I think on road circuits he’ll just disappear,” Williams said. “I think once he gets the hang of the ovals I would imagine he will be super-quick. I think he will just electrify them.”

Long gone: Maybe Cal State Long Beach should have kept its football program another season or two. Quarterback Jay Walker, who transferred to Howard University when the 49ers dropped the sport, threw six touchdown passes, all in the first half, in Howard’s 75-6 victory over Cheyney.

Christmas thought: Neiman-Marcus’ 1992 Christmas catalogue has an item tailor-made for the golfer who wants everything. It’s a $9,700 custom cart that has a TV, CD player, video camera and cellular phone.

Mistaken identity: Reader Alice B. Johnson reports that in the Los Angeles County Fair’s Home Arts Building there is an exhibit of table settings, one of which includes sports themes. One prepared by a woman from Claremont has a banner reading “Los Angeles Super Bowl Fantasy” with half the table set for the Rams and half for the Raiders.

Johnson said she overheard comments that ranged from, “That sure is some fantasy,” to “Not in my lifetime.”

Farm system: The San Francisco Giants’ Class-A affiliate, San Jose, recently held a promotion in which three players--each standing in for a fan--tried to win a prize by knocking out a headlight on a truck with a thrown ball. Two of them missed the truck.

Trivia answer: Each was voted player of the game in the Rose Bowl.

Sign of the times: At a recent auto race, sales were brisk for T-shirts carrying this message: “Remember when sex was safe and racing was dangerous?”

Quotebook: Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, on warning his football team about pregame hype: “I told them publicity is like poison--it won’t hurt you if you don’t swallow it.”