Fans Are Always Looking for Some Kind of a Sign

Autograph seekers are obsessive, but Mickey Mantle has a story, perhaps, to top them all.

He was suffering from what he believed to be a heart attack on a plane trip, according to the Allegheny (Pa.) Bulletin.

When the plane landed, Mantle was strapped on a stretcher with an oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth and an IV stuck into his arm.

Then, he heard someone say, “Hey, Mick, can I get your autograph?” Mantle laughs about it now, saying: “Maybe the guy thought it would be the last one I ever signed.”

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Add fans: Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver, was sleeping on a plane when someone started tugging at his shoulder.

He awakened and was startled to see a priest standing over him. “What’s wrong?” Swann asked. “Is the plane about to crash?”

Not quite. “He just wanted my autograph,” Swann said.

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Trivia time: Who holds the Super Bowl record for most touchdown passes in a game?

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Show boating? From Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News: “So Riddick Bowe showed contempt for the WBC by dumping his championship belt into the garbage. Q--How long do you think the belt stayed in the garbage. A--Just until cameras stopped clicking.”

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Eagle still flapping: Ridiculed for his comical performances at Calgary in 1988 and dropped from the team for Albertville last year, British ski jumper Eddie (the Eagle) Edwards is determined to make it to the 1994 Olympics in Norway.

“People just think I’ve packed up the ski jumping, but the truth is I’ve never stopped,” he said. “I’m jumping farther than ever, and I still think I can make it into our Olympic team for Lillehammer next year.”

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Meow: George Toma, the self-described “Nitty Gritty Dirt Man,” has installed new sod at Candlestick Park, site of today’s NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys.

Toma conceded that the field could be slippery from heavy rains, adding: “But we’ll bring in calcined clay, an expensive form of kitty litter, for the outside.”

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Bog by the bay: San Francisco Examiner columnist Art Spander, commenting on the soggy field for last weekend’s playoff game between the 49ers and the Washington Redskins: “For the last week it was under a tarp, which, several hours before kickoff, was removed to reveal (a) the La Brea tar pits; (b) the surface of the moon; (c) the former home of the Creature from the Black Lagoon or (d) all of the above.”

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Trivia answer: San Francisco’s Joe Montana, with five against the Denver Broncos in 1990.

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Quotebook: John Robinson, on his work as a commentator during three telecasts of USC games last season, before he returned as the school’s coach: “I found out how much Tom Kelly second-guesses the coach.”