Here’s Hoping He Won’t Cause Trade Embargo

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Examiner on slugger Kevin Mitchell’s decision to play for the Daiei Hawks in Japan for an estimated $6 million:

“He has never been one to tote that barge, let alone lift that bale, unless there was a direct and immediate benefit or consequence to him. You get Mitch, you get his bat, you get his glove, you get his occasionally casual gift to detail.

“And the Japanese baseball mind does not allow for killer doughnuts to interfere with the workday schedule. The possibility of a cultural collision seems to come only slightly short of inevitable.”

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Trivia time: What is the L.A. Open record for the lowest 18-hole score?

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Training ground: Ernie Banks is optimistic about major league baseball despite its current problems.

“You just have to be patient,” he says. “Spending 30 years with the Cubs, I learned to be patient.”

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Rationalizing: Brian Williams of the Denver Nuggets on losing $27,000 for a suspension and fine: “I kind of treat it like I had a very bad day in Las Vegas, without dealing with the airports and the piped music.”

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Come again? Pro golfer Mike Hulbert on putting with only his right hand: “Before, I couldn’t make any important putts. Now I miss more than I did, but I also make more than I did.”

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Get a bad habit: Bobby Valentine, the first former major league manager to manage in Japan, on one of the cultural differences he faces with the Chiba Lotte Marines:

“They don’t chew anything. No gum. No seeds. They think it will distract them. I’m trying to to tell them it will relax them.”

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A real bargain: Some Missouri taxpayers had sticker shock when they saw the price tag, $260 million, on the new stadium being built for the St. Louis Rams, but wait until they get the rest of the bill.

According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, it will cost them $24 million a year for the next 30 years to pay off the bonds--for a total of $720 million.

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FYI: UCLA is represented by five and USC by four in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. John Wooden, Denny Crum, Ann Meyers, Bill Walton, and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar are the UCLA representatives. Wooden, who went to Purdue, is honored as both a coach and player.

USC is represented by Sam Barry, Bill Sharman, Jack Gardner and Cheryl Miller.

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Trivia answer: George Archer, with a 61 at Rancho Park in 1983.

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Quotebook: Manager Mike Hargrove of the Cleveland Indians on learning names of replacement players: “We can’t put tapes (with names) on their foreheads.”