With Jordan Out of the Way, Barons Back at Full Strength

The Birmingham Barons played their first home game Friday night without a .200-hitting outfielder named Michael Jordan, who chose to play again in the NBA.

So how are the baseball fans reacting to life after Jordan, who attracted large crowds last year.

“It’s not as much a circus atmosphere,” said Kevan Kirkpatrick of Tuscaloosa, Ala.

John Sanderson, a longtime Baron fan, added his own spin: ‘I think Michael is the greatest basketball player, but as far as where baseball meets the pavement, he was a minus to the Barons. I feel the Barons were playing with eight players all year.”

Trivia time: Who holds the NBA record for most points in a half?

Enterprising: Jim Reid, an employee at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., started a company called Second Chance that sells used golf balls. Reid dives into ponds and water hazards, shines up old balls and sells them for half the price of new ones.

Reid’s company grossed $1 million in 1993, and he eventually sold it for $5.1 million. “The only thing that could hurt,” he said in Playboy Magazine, “is if someone comes up with a (playable) floating golf ball.”

Exotic safety?Maurice Douglass, former safety with the Chicago Bears, who recently signed a two-year contract with the New York Giants, is almost as well known for what he did off the field.

He worked as an exotic dancer.

ZZZZZ: C.W. Nevius of the Stan Francisco Chronicle on the Portland Trail Blazers and Coach P.J. Carlesimo: “Team PJ is sleep walking through the schedule like they’re wearing PJ’s.”

Queen for a day: When the “King of California” sprint car series opened at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, the winner was Shawna Wilskey--not a King, but a Queen. She is the first woman ever to win a Northern Auto Racing Club event.

Far out: The Hall of Fame Bowl in Tampa, Fla., took on a title sponsor and a new name in a six-year agreement with Outback Steakhouse: the Outback Bowl.

What’s next? The Outhouse Bowl?

Humorist: Richard Griffin, who recently resigned as the Montreal Expos’ public relations director to become a baseball columnist with the Toronto Star, was known for his zany news releases.

He once listed the next night’s pitcher as “Undecided” and provided a profile of this player, including “favorite food--waffles” and “favorite color--plaid.”

Double-talk: Some major league players are more accommodating to fans this year in hopes of softening the anger their strike caused.

Lenny Dykstra of the Philadelphia Phillies talked last week about the importance of treating fans favorably. Then he told some of them he couldn’t sign autographs because his hands felt “sticky.”

Trivia answer: Wilt Chamberlain of Philadelphia, with 59 in the second half against New York on March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pa.

Quotebook: Manager Jim Leyland of the Pittsburgh Pirates: “People ask me why we didn’t sign (pitcher) David Cone. Heck, we can’t even afford an ice cream cone.”