For Doing Nothing, This Is Something

Bill Sharman, former Laker coach and executive, was a rookie with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1951 when they were engaged in a tight pennant race with the Giants.

In a game against the Boston Braves on Sept. 27, umpire Frank Dascoli, believing he was being heckled, ejected every player from the Dodger bench, including Sharman.

“I didn’t say anything, “ Sharman recalled.

Nonetheless, he became part of baseball trivia history: the only player to be ejected even though--as it turned out--he never played in a major league game.

Add Sharman: He will be the inaugural inductee for basketball at the USC Hall of Fame banquet on May 21 at the Forum.

Trivia time: Who are the only two Angel managers to have led the club to first-place finishes?

Was it worth it?Golf World reports that diving for golf balls can be hazardous to your health. Louis Mannion, who works for Second Chance Golf Ball recovery, found that out the hard way when an 11-foot alligator clamped down on his foot while he was retrieving balls from a water hazard at the Palm Beach Polo & Country Club in Wellington, Fla.

Mannion wasn’t seriously injured and the alligator was later destroyed.

Weatherman: From the book, “We Played the Game,” edited by Danny Peary: Bill Rigney on Johnny Mize, his New York Giant teammate and roommate:

“If the wind would be blowing out, Mize would lie back in bed, and puff that cigar and say, ‘Roomie, I’m going to hit one or two out today.’ And he would.

“If the wind was blowing in, he’d come back to the bed and put out his cigar and just lie there.”

Splendid idea: Woody Woodburn of the Ventura Star-Free Press writes that if he were NFL commissioner, “I would put football goal posts on tracks and have them move back and forth like those little ducks in a county fair’s shooting gallery, you know, just to make field goals interesting.”

Frequent flyer: Jackie MacMullan of the Boston Globe wonders whether Indiana Pacer Coach Larry Brown has finally found happiness with a franchise.

“Nah, Larry is never happy,” replied team President Donnie Walsh, a longtime friend of Brown. “I think he had his bags all but packed a couple times this season.

“Larry never thinks his teams are good enough, but that’s what makes him tick.”

Looking back: On this day in 1950, USC’s Dick Attlesey set the world record in the 120-yard high hurdles at the Fresno Relays with a time of 13.5 seconds.

Trivia answer: Jim Fregosi, 1979, and Gene Mauch, 1982 and 1986.

Quotebook: Coach Rudy Tomjanovich of the Houston Rockets on not lobbying extensively for Hakeem Olajuwon as NBA defensive player of the year: “It’s like selling a Rolls-Royce and having to go out there and talk about its interior.”