Notes on a Scorecard - June 29, 1994

The best thing about the Raiders deciding to remain at the Coliseum this season is that they might be the class of the AFC. . . .

They have done as good a job as any contender of keeping their team intact--and improving it in spots--despite the NFL’s new salary cap. . . . Al Davis set the tone the day he matched the Denver Broncos’ offer sheet for Tim Brown. . . .

Raider season-ticket invoices were sent to subscribers during the weekend. . . .

Don’t look now, but training camp is nearly upon us. Raider rookies will report to Oxnard July 10 and the veterans July 15. The team leaves for Barcelona July 25 to practice for a game there against the Broncos July 30. . . .

In other words, the NFL exhibition season will be starting about the time the major league baseball season probably will be shutting down.

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USC customers will be receiving their Coliseum season tickets in the mail in August, as usual. . . .

Look-alikes: New White House chief of staff Leon Panetta and boxing promoter Bob Arum. . . . Perhaps the worst thing Jose Offerman did in the off-season was bulk up. When he reported to Vero Beach, he fancied himself a home run hitter. . . .

Nightly sight at Dodger Stadium: Players and umpires swatting away bugs. . . .

Remember when Wade Boggs was traded to the New York Yankees and it was said he would never be the same again without the benefits of Fenway Park? . . .

Brett Butler and Paul Molitor are improving with age. . . .

In case you haven’t noticed, Houston first baseman Jeff Bagwell has become an early National League Triple Crown candidate. . . .

The Boston Red Sox’s worst trade since sending Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $120,000 and a $300,000 loan in 1920 was dealing Bagwell to the Astros for relief pitcher Larry Andersen in 1990. . . .

Mike Piazza’s batting-practice power displays are nearly as impressive as Jose Canseco’s. His demonstrations of strength during games are pretty impressive, too . . .

Dave Kingman is one of six San Francisco Giants to hit for the cycle. The surprise is that he got the single. . . .

T-shirt worn by Matt Williams and other Giants: “Dusty’s Thugs.” . . . .

Jockey Jerry Bailey was about as surprised as the rest of us at Santa Anita when Arcangues won the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Classic and paid $269.20. . . .

“I had absolutely no idea how he would run off his European form,” Bailey said. “In fact, I couldn’t even pronounce his name.” . . .

Well, it is pronounced Ar-kong and it will be no shock if he wins the $750,000 Gold Cup Saturday at Hollywood Park, where he will be second choice behind The Wicked North. . . .

Hollywood Park head clocker Gary Nelson called a recent six-furlong workout by Arcangues “about the most awesome work I’ve ever seen.” . . .

Bailey, who will fly here Friday night from New York to ride in the Gold Cup, is the 36-year-old son of a dentist, a former Texas El Paso student, and in his fifth year as president of the Jockeys Guild. . . .

He says Arcangues is capable of beating any horse on any given day, which is something that he proved last Nov. 6 in Arcadia. . . .

The NBA draft makes for better television than the NFL draft because each team is allowed only five minutes, instead of 15, to make its first-round pick. . . .

A sleeper could be 6-foot-3 point guard Gaylon Nickerson, who was an NAIA All-American at Northwestern Oklahoma State after playing at Kansas State and Wichita State. Another possibility is 6-6 swingman Tony Dumas of Missouri Kansas City, who was the nation’s seventh-leading scorer. . . .

Nancy Kerrigan and Brian Boitano will be among those performing in the Campbell’s Soup Tour of World Figure Skating Champions Sunday at the Forum. . . .

Harry Kabakoff, the colorful fight personality best known for managing the Pimentel twins, has become a matchmaker in Ensenada, Mexico. . . .

The World Cup will miss the South Koreans--offensive-minded, superbly conditioned and spirited, but eliminated in the first round. . . .

It’s unfortunate that the U.S. team had only six months to find out about the change in the yellow-card rule. . . .

The Dodgers had a better record last year on this date, but trailed the Giants by 10 1/2 games in the NL West.