Running an Errand for Bonds Makes Former MVP Say ‘Hey!’

Willie Mays went to a dinner in New York on Sunday to receive Barry Bonds’ National League most valuable player award and criticized his godson for not showing up himself.

“We gave him $47 million,” said Mays, a special assistant to San Francisco Giant President Peter Magowan. “For that, he ought to pick up his (own) award.”

Bonds won the NL MVP for the third time in four seasons. Mays is a two-time MVP.

“Whenever you win an award, you (should) have to pick it up,” Mays said.

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Add Mays: Mays also said he told Bonds not to compare himself with his godfather quite yet.

“I played 20 years,” Mays said he told him. “Then you can talk about it.”

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Trivia time: Who is the only winner of a gold medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games?

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Tough league: Manager Johnny Oates of the Baltimore Orioles says the only thing he knows about realignment is that a good team is going to finish last in the American League East.

“To tell you the truth, if you’d asked me five days ago, I couldn’t even have told you which teams are in our division,” he said.

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FYI Johnny: The teams are Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Toronto and the Yankees.

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Remember Perez: Orlando Cepeda received a lot of sympathy when he barely failed to make baseball’s Hall of Fame in the recent voting. But how about Tony Perez, the Cincinnati first baseman who was overshadowed by Big Red Machine teammates Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and Joe Morgan?

Perez had more hits than Ted Williams and more runs batted in than Mike Schmidt.

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Good excuse: High school track athletes usually must post impressive marks to be invited to invitational indoor meets such as next month’s Sunkist scheduled for the Sports Arena.

When Riverside Poly Coach Shane Wiley requested a spot for shotputter Smitty Diecks, he had no good mark, but Wiley had a novel reason. Diecks was hit by a shot in training, which is why his coach said he didn’t reach his potential.

Chairman Al Franken of the Sunkist says he’s in.

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Fast Freddie: Defenseman Al Iafrate of the Washington Capitals retained his title as the hardest shooter in the NHL in All-Star game skills competition. Iafrate topped the NHL All-Stars at 102.7 m.p.h., the only player to break 100 m.p.h.

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Note: Golfer Fred Couples had a slap shot unofficially recorded at 104 m.p.h. during an exhibition in Dallas last week.

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Trivia answer: Eddie Eagan of the United States, as a light-heavyweight boxer in 1920 at Antwerp, Belgium, and on the four-man bobsled in 1932 at Lake Placid, N.Y.

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Quotebook: The Boston Celtics’ Xavier McDaniel, on the Celtics’ mystique after tying a team record for consecutive losses at home: “I think the leprechaun has taken the year off.”