He Had a Bat, but Proved to Be a Stick in the Mud

Five years ago today, before the Dodgers’ exhibition opener, Kirk Gibson angrily sprinted off the field and left the Dodgertown premises after finding that the inside of his cap had been swabbed with shoe polish.

“Basically, I don’t want to be a part of their fun and comedy act,” Gibson, who had signed with the Dodgers as a free agent the previous winter, said of his new teammates.

“I’m not a radical guy. I go by the rules. This other bull is foreign to me. I like to have a good time, but a good time to me is winning.”

Said teammate Jesse Orosco, who admitted to pulling the prank, “Let’s just say I won’t be doing it again. That’s because I don’t want to read my name in the obituaries.”

Trivia time: What 10 NBA players have been with their current teams for 10 or more seasons?

And probably the last: Said General Manager Jack McCloskey of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who was an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers when Ann Meyers--the only woman given a tryout with the NBA--was cut from the team in 1979: “That was the first time I’ve ever been kissed by anybody we’ve cut.”

Looking (way) ahead: From Tom Fitzgerald of the San Francisco Chronicle: “The Warriors don’t collect on (last week’s) trade of forward Ed Nealy to the Chicago Bulls until the 2001 NBA draft, when they’ll get a second-round pick. Talk about a youth movement: Nealy, 33, was traded for a 12-year-old.”

Eye of the beholder: Said Manager Rene Lachemann of the Florida Marlins, upon meeting the team’s mascot: “I didn’t know you were going to be that ugly. That’s all right. I ain’t no oil painting myself.”

For what it’s worth: On Jan. 20, 1944, at Chicago Stadium, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks played the only scoreless, penalty-free game in NHL history. It lasted 1 hour 55 minutes.

Odd couple: Wrote Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post, on a report that among the visitors turned away by Mike Tyson at an Indiana prison was Phyllis Diller: “Phyllis Diller? . . . Why would she think Tyson would even know who she is? Does Tyson strike you as the kind of guy who watched a lot of 1972 Bob Hope specials?”

Nice ratings, buddy: Dennis Miller, host of a short-lived late-night television talk show, on his prowess as an athlete while growing up: “I was completely inept, like many sportswriters, I assume.”

Trivia answer: Robert Parish and Kevin McHale of the Boston Celtics, Bill Laimbeer and Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons, Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks, Mark Eaton of the Utah Jazz, Clyde Drexler of the Portland Trail Blazers, Derek Harper of the Dallas Mavericks and James Worthy and Byron Scott of the Lakers.

Quotebook: Anfernee Hardaway of Memphis State, on comparisons between him and Magic Johnson: “Magic can’t jump like me.”