Legendary Home Run Was Going, Going, Gone

The stories about Josh Gibson, the great slugger of the old Negro Baseball League, are legendary among those who remember baseball of the pre-Jackie Robinson era. Some are downright Paul Bunyanesque, such as this one:

Gibson was playing for the Pittsburgh Crawfords one day in Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field when he smashed a towering drive to center field. According to legend, the ball went “up, up, and away.” The center fielder ran back to the fence, but the ball disappeared in a haze. Players and spectators agreed that it never came down.

The umpires ruled it a home run.

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Trivia time: When and where did Little League get its start?

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La-La Land: A Cincinnati fan held up a sign in the stands after the Bengals’ 15-3 victory over the Rams:

“Does Los Angeles have any more football teams for the Bengals to play?”

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Don’t ask why: Newspapers in the San Francisco area have started a groundswell of support from fans for the selection of former Giant first baseman Orlando Cepeda into the Baseball Hall of Fame. One fan had his own personal reason.

“He caught one-handed,” Michael Maloney wrote, “and so did I.”

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Just in case: In the eyes of the NCAA, college boosters are considered representatives of a school’s athletic interests, so the University of Arkansas sent its boosters a word of caution.

Among the usual warnings against giving extra benefits to athletes, the brochure reminded boosters that they can’t provide athletes with “money for or a guarantee of bail or bond.”

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Lesson learned: A newsletter from the Golf Nut Society of America reports that one of its members often opens the sliding glass door of his condominium and hits tee shots through the opening.

On one occasion, he pulled his shot ever so slightly, causing the ball to strike the door frame, ricochet--barely missing his head--and embed itself in the wall behind him.

He left the ball in the wall as a constant reminder of the danger of pulled tee shots.

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Trivia answer: In 1939 in Williamsport, Pa., with 30 players in a three-team league.

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Quotebook: Stock car champion Dale Earnhardt, after winning his sixth Winston Cup championship to pull within one of Richard Petty: “The King will always be the King. Even if I win 10 championships, I’m still no Richard Petty.”