In Those Days, Replacements Were Welcome

Jerome Holtzman of the Chicago Tribune recalls another era of replacement players. But the major leaguers weren’t on strike. They were serving their country during World War II.

“The manpower shortage was so acute that Pete Gray, a one-armed outfielder, batted .218 with the defending American League champion St. Louis Browns (in 1945),” Holtzman writes. “There was also a one-legged pitcher, Bert Shepard of the Washington Senators.”

Holtzman noted that the Browns, who won their only pennant in 1944, had 16 4-F’s--men physically unfit for military service--on their 1945 club.

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Trivia time: Which UCLA basketball coach had the highest winning percentage?

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Just wondering: David Moore in the Dallas Morning News: “Actor Jim Carrey reportedly can command $18 million for a film just for making silly faces and acting stupid.

“Why can’t San Antonio’s Dennis Rodman make a few million for dying his hair cranberry and acting outrageously?”

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Ultimate achievement: How intense is Hawaii’s basketball rivalry with Brigham Young? According to Stephen Tsai of the Honolulu Advertiser, a former Rainbow player once described defeating BYU as “better than statehood.”

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Understatement: Kevin Loughery, who recently was fired as coach of the Miami Heat, noting that his assistant, Alvin Gentry, went to the NBA All-Star game with the Heat’s new owners and then returned as the new coach:

“I think the key thing with assistants you hire is loyalty, and I question some here.”

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Add Loughery: Nick Canepa in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “(Loughery) has been fired just in time to coach the Clippers next season.”

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Ancient method: After a recent loss at home to Philadelphia, Tampa Bay Lightning coaches changed three of the four lines in practice the next day.

“Very scientific,” assistant coach Wayne Cashman said. “We got the number combinations from fortune cookies.”

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Hatchet man: Billy Curley, a Detroit Piston rookie from Boston College, is called “the Boston Strangler” by his teammates because he has 112 fouls in 511 minutes.

“I’m not trying to hack people,” Curley said. “I’m just trying to play defense--but I’m not the prettiest player.”

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Come again? Senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) to acting commissioner Bud Selig at hearings on baseball’s antitrust exemption:

“Please spare me that you have to have this or that for baseball to survive. It is pure humbug, babble. If it is so darned good and as essential as mother’s milk, then why isn’t baseball being played?”

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Looking back: On this day in 1970, Pete Maravich of Louisiana State scored 64 points, but his team still lost to Kentucky, 121-105.

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Trivia answer: Gary Cunningham, who had a 50-8 record (.862) while coaching in 1977-78 and 1978-79.

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Quotebook: Former boxer Art Aragon, the original “Golden Boy”: “I’ll never forget my last time at the Garden. Hundreds of people were screaming for me. I must have sold 250 hot dogs.”