Throwing This Pitch Is as Easy as Eastern Religion and Burglary

Tim Wakefield, a knuckleball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, told Paul Meyer of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of some tips he got from another knuckleballer, 45-year-old Charlie Hough of the Florida Marlins.

“Charlie said that to throw the knuckleball you have to have the mind of a Zen Buddhist and the fingertips of a safecracker,” Wakefield said.

“You’ve got to have guts to throw a pitch 60 miles an hour to big-league hitters. If there’s no movement on it, it will get crushed. That’s the Zen Buddhist part.

“And you need such a delicate touch on the ball to make it not spin. That’s the fingertips part.”

Trivia time: Other than the Lakers, how many West Coast-based teams have won NBA championships?

What are the odds?: Ken Hubbs, a Chicago Cub second baseman, set a major league record for consecutive errorless games and chances, 78 and 418, in 1962.

Rick Dauer, a Baltimore Oriole second baseman, established an American League record for errorless chances of 425 in 1978. They both attended Colton High.

Just plain Joe: The people of Montana’s smallest incorporated town have decided to change its name from Ismay to Joe in honor of quarterback Joe Montana.

However, the people of Ismay aren’t sure how they’ll refer to themselves. Joeans? Maybe Joeites? Or Joeys? Joe-ettes?

“We haven’t quite decided what you call people from Joe,” city clerk Wayne Rieger said.

Fly away, Batman: Actor Michael Keaton wanted to shag fly balls in the outfield before a recent Pittsburgh Pirate game in Chicago.

Pirate Manager Jim Leyland disapproved. “This is a professional ballclub. This ain’t Hollywood,” Leyland said, adding: “Tell (him) if he wants to stop by and meet the players before the game it’s OK.

“I just don’t want him on the field. We’re not running a circus here.”

Hot air: Houston Manager Art Howe’s theory on why the Astros, who play in the cavernous Astrodome, have hit 32 home runs this season:

“I think in the Dome it’s because our attendance is up. The more people there are in here, the hotter it gets and the better the ball carries.”

Wait a minute: In a poll of NBA players, 18% did not name Michael Jordan as the most exciting player in the league.

Tedious teal: Bob Kravitz of the Rocky Mountain News writes that Joe Robbie Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins, is a reasonably good place to watch baseball, adding: “If you can get past the teal hats and the teal scoreboards and the teal fences--even Dockers won’t do teal.”

Trivia answer: Three--Golden State, 1974-75; Portland, 1976-77, and Seattle, 1978-79.

Quotebook: Yogi Berra, as the New York Yankee catcher, when he was introduced to novelist Ernest Hemingway: “What paper are you with, Ernie?”