His Wardrobe Was Already at Minimum

Noting the Cincinnati Reds’ refusal to offer a top-dollar contract to third baseman Chris Sabo, Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Post has a suggestion for the team: Offer Sabo the major league minimum wage, $109,000, and see what happens.

Writes Daugherty: “Sabo wore the same five pairs of jeans for four years, securing a reputation for depravity unparalleled in the game.

“He could make it on $109,000.

“Imagine the public relations. The headlines--’Ballplayer Takes $3-Million Pay Cut!’--would be as bizarre and fantastic as ‘Headless Man Found in Topless Bar!’ ”

Trivia time: Twenty-two years separated the oldest and youngest winners on the PGA Tour in 1993. Who are they?

Still joltin’: Joe DiMaggio’s 79th birthday prompted San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen to note, “His arthritis is now so severe he probably couldn’t hit more than 25 homers a season.”

No argument there: Ivan Maisel of the Dallas Morning News, looking back on his selection of Syracuse, which finished 6-4-1 and out of the bowl picture, as his preseason No. 1: ‘Well, I’ll never make a worse pick.”

Ouch: Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News, beginning a recent column on the state of the NFL:

“I am tempted to say that the NFL is in shambles.

“Of course, my judgment is skewed.

“I watch the Eagles for a living.”

Happy to be there: Among the crowd at George Washington University’s Smith Center for the championship game of the Red Auerbach Colonial Classic basketball tournament last week was Arnold (Red) Auerbach.

“It’s quite an honor to see something like this,” the president of the Boston Celtics--and George Washington alumnus--said. “Usually, things like this don’t get named after you until you’ve been dead for a while.”

Add Red: Five months after undergoing quintuple-bypass heart surgery, Auerbach, 76, reports two changes in his lifestyle: more racquetball and fewer cigars--a mere two a day.

Old wounds: Nearly six years have passed since Peter Pocklington, owner of the Edmonton Oilers, shipped Wayne Gretzky to the Kings, but the deal remains a sore subject for Edmonton hockey fans, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.

“A lot of fans still hold grudges against (Pocklington) for doing that,” one fan, Rod Chmiliar, told the newspaper. “I know I was numb for weeks. I couldn’t comprehend what had happened. It was like my dog died.”

Somebody’s buying it: Shaquille O’Neal’s album, “Shaq Diesel,” is No. 49 this week on Billboard’s 200 pop chart. The album, which has been on the charts for six weeks, peaked at No. 25. It currently is No. 18 on Billboard’s R&B; chart.

Trivia answer: Howard Twitty, 44, and Phil Mickelson, 22.

Quotebook: Former Montreal goalie Ken Dryden, on why he did not tolerate derisive fans: “When I put on a Canadien sweater, part of the bargain wasn’t that I’d be the target for anyone who wanted to throw anything, chant anything or say anything they wanted.”