He Wasn’t Necessarily the Best, but He Certainly Was the Most

After the death Sunday of longtime Boston Celtic announcer Johnny Most, Boston radio historians began pulling out recordings of some of his classic calls.

Here’s one from a Celtic-Laker playoff game during the 1980s:

“Kurt Rambis is a stevedore! He’s out there banging people around! That’s his whole purpose in life! And Michael Cooper is a sneaky, dirty player! Pat Riley--the Imported Suit--has them playing vicious, goon basketball!

“Kurt Rambis is in the middle of every dirty play! Pat Riley wants people hurt out there, and I blame him for this whole dirty scene! All the tinsel-and-plastic people are cheering this stevedore here in Make-Believe Land. . . . “

Add Most: A favorite target of Most’s was Kelly Tripucka.

This, from a 1985 Celtic-Detroit Piston game: “Kelly is having a bad shooting night, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Oh, now he’s telling referee Jake O’Donnell he was fouled. What a faker this guy is, a real faker! Cry, Kelly, cry!”

Trivia time: Where did John Robinson spend the 1975 football season?

Hip pointer: The Chicago White Sox haven’t given up on Bo Jackson, not even after he underwent hip replacement surgery last April 4.

Jackson is working out this winter at an indoor facility in Chicago, fielding ground balls at first base and taking batting practice right- and left-handed. Later this month, he will test his artificial hip by running hard for the first time.

Jackson played only 21 games in 1991 and missed all of 1992 after the surgery. He injured his hip during a Raider playoff game in January of 1991.

Said White Sox spokesman Dana Noel: “So far Bo has done some light jogging with no limp, no pain, no discomfort. So far, it’s pretty exciting.”

Is it possible? Can anyone play major league baseball with an artificial hip?

“It’s possible, but how advisable it is is another matter,” said Dr. Desmond Dall, chief of reconstructive surgery at USC. Dall has performed about 2,500 hip replacement operations over the last 20 years.

“I have hip replacement patients who have gone on to play tennis, jog and one even climbed peaks in the Himalayas,” Dall said.

“But baseball might be too much. The biggest problem would be impact loading on the prosthesis. If he has to jump or land hard on the ground or change direction quickly . . . those impact loads would most likely shorten the longevity of the prosthesis. But by how much no one can say.”

Off the mark: Twenty years ago this week, George Steinbrenner bought the New York Yankees. Newsday’s Tom Verducci recently looked up the Jan. 3, 1973 news conference story announcing Steinbrenner’s purchase.

Here’s what Steinbrenner said that day: “I won’t be active in the day-to-day operations of the club at all. I’ve spread myself so thin. I’ve got enough headaches with my shipbuilding company.”

Trivia answer: On the Oakland Raiders’ staff.

Quotebook: Radio announcer Hank Stram, on the fast-disappearing Superdome crowd Sunday, when the New Orleans Saints collapsed in the second half and lost, 36-20, to the Philadelphia Eagles: “Look at this place. It’s like a fire drill’s going on. Someone rang a bell and 75,000 people scattered.”