Hairless in Seattle: Fans Are Really Buzzing Over Buhner

The Seattle Mariners offered free admission recently to anyone consenting to a Jay Buhner-style “buzz cut” hairstyle.

The Mariners provided barbers outside the Kingdome, and about 400 fans had their locks shaved down to the quarter-inch length that Buhner, a Mariner outfielder, prefers.

Another 86 showed up who had already had themselves buzzed.

Buhner commented: “This is the grunge capital of the world.”

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Ripping the Pip: Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant criticized the Chicago Bulls’ Scottie Pippen, implying that Pippen has muffed the role of Bull main man since Michael Jordan retired.

“In or out of Jordan’s shadow, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that when it comes to guts, graciousness and just generally acting grown-up, Scottie Pippen might not be such a pip of a guy,” Greenberg wrote.

“When Pippen was introduced to the Chicago crowd, he received not the boos he deserved, but a rousing ovation. Fans will forgive anything if a player can help their team win. No wonder guys such as Pippen come to believe that they are bigger than the game. We liked Pippen better when he was in Jordan’s shadow. Riding out front, he doesn’t look too pretty. More like an all-time grate.”

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Trivia time: Who are the top three in multiple home run games?

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Oops: The Colts, who begin play as a Canadian Football League expansion team in Baltimore, recently took some of that city’s reporters on a tour of old Memorial Stadium.

As Jobie Waldt, Colt facilities director, showed them the TV booth, his right leg went through the rotted floor, up to his knee.

The stadium needs $2 million worth of work.

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Ban Boswell: Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell wrote after the deaths of drivers Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna that auto racing should be banned.

Predictably, the Post was deluged with letters. Mike Gleason of Shillington, Pa., wrote: “Auto racing may be the last bastion of good sportsmanship in American sports. How often do you see ‘trash talking’ at an auto race? How often does a pit-clearing brawl occur in auto racing? How often does an opposing team in baseball or football offer to give assistance to an up-and-coming team? This does not happen in any other professional sport. Race car drivers appeal to fans because they are just ordinary people.”

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No ringer: When Brett Butler’s son, Blake, was 4, he asked his father if he could wear an earring. Butler’s reaction: “At the time, Kal Daniels and Darryl Strawberry wore them, and Blake came to me and said: ‘I want an earring like Darryl. I told him, ‘As long as you are in this house, you will not wear an earring.’ And he said, ‘Well, I guess I have to move out.’ ”

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Trivia answer: Babe Ruth with 72, Willie Mays with 63 and Henry Aaron with 62.

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Quotebook: The late Jack Benny, on golf: “Give me my golf clubs, the fresh air, a beautiful partner--and you can keep my golf clubs and the fresh air.”