On-Deck Circle Empty at L.A. City College

Los Angeles City College may be looking at a called third strike. Official word is expected Monday, but the school plans to hang up the gloves and drop baseball after 63 years, basically because of money problems.

So, not exactly a household name, you say? Actually, Los Angeles City put 27 players into the majors, among them Don Buford, Roy Smalley, Pete LaCock and Larry Demery.

Super-agent Dennis Gilbert and rap star Hammer also played baseball at the school.

Trivia time: What is the given name of the Atlanta Hawks’ Mookie Blaylock?

Things you can count on: George Foreman joking about his age, Dodger Stadium freshly painted for opening day, Red Auerbach popping off about the Lakers.

The Boston Globe ran a story last week on the last regular-season Celtic game at Boston Garden and quoted Auerbach, former Celtic coach and general manager, on playing the Lakers so many times in the finals:

“I never worried about L.A. because we used to psych them out. They tried everything, but nothing worked. . . . We drove them nuts.”

Diet news: Baltimore left-hander Sid Fernandez lost 40 pounds, but he isn’t happy about it, mainly because he thinks he can’t throw hard enough at a mere 222 pounds.

“I feel like a wimp,” Fernandez said. “What is the use of looking good if you’re not getting anybody out?”

Numbers game: It seems that Rick Pitino has more basketball players than Kentucky has bluegrass, now that the Wildcats have added high school player of the year Ron Mercer. Gene Wojciechowski, writing in the Sporting News, said Pitino probably needs to give a few players red-shirt seasons.

“Either that, or Pitino might have the nation’s first 17-player rotation of recent memory,” Wojciechowski said.

Finance 101: Jerry West’s salary his rookie season with the Lakers in 1960 was $16,500.

Advanced finance: In 1966, the Braves’ first season in Atlanta, not a single player made $100,000. This season, the team’s average salary is $1.8 million.

Title track: Did someone say rebuilding? Of the four teams that won NBA titles in the 1980s--the Lakers, Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia--the Lakers were the only team with a winning record this season.

Trivia answer: Daron Oshay Blaylock.

Quotebook: Tennis star Natasha Zvereva on why she changed her first name from Natalia: “Natalia sounds like a passport name.”