What’s Next for Dull Ripken, Doc Martens and a Nose Ring?

A new Franklin Glove commercial with Cal Ripken and Barry Bonds pokes fun at the rather dull image of the Baltimore Oriole shortstop, who is rarely featured in national advertisements--his image apparently more fitting to local and regional endorsements for products such as milk and hot dogs.

But in this commercial, it was Ripken’s idea to end it with him wearing an earring, just like Bonds’. “Cal said, ‘What if I put an earring on too?’ ” said Jon Castle, the advertising manager for the commercial.

The advertisers found an earring.

In the last scene, Ripken and Bonds admire Cal’s new earwear in a mirror. “What do you think my dad would say?” Ripken laughs.

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Trivia time: What is the Dodgers’ single-game record for runs scored since they moved to Los Angeles?

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Lady in Red: The hair from Marge Schott’s dead dog, the original Schottzie, is getting the credit or at least some ink for changing the dismal luck of the Cincinnati Reds. After she rubbed it on her players’ chests and legs, they pulled out an improbable comeback to beat the New York Mets Saturday, 13-11, only their second victory in 10 games this season.

During the 1990 season, when Schottzie was alive, Schott would rub the dog’s hair on the chest of then-manager Lou Piniella every day, right up through the World Series championship. After the dog died, she kept the bag of hair in her kitchen.

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Small town: Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe writes that local fave band Letters to Cleo visited Plant City, Fla., on the last day of spring training, and guitarist Michael Eisenstein, a Met fan, posed for a picture with Red coach Ray Knight. He asked lead singer Kay Hanley to pose with him. She refused. “I’m sure Ray Knight’s a nice man,” replied the singer from Dorchester, Mass., “but he was the one who scored the winning run when the ball went through (Bill) Buckner’s legs.”

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Love shack: Larry Guest of the Orlando Sentinel has this to say about Boston Garden: “If a fire marshal with any conscience had ever looked inside this place, he would have boarded it up 20 years ago, or at least ordered extra timbers to shore up the roof before it fell on a lot of sentimental noggins.”

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Soul train: When Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden was being introduced one Sunday for his address at the First Baptist Church of Windermere, Fla., Pastor Mark Matheson playfully delivered a Seminole chop. As Bowden ascended the pulpit, the congregation broke out in war chants and chops. He responded with the Florida Gators’ “Jaws” gesture. “Keep in mind,” he joked, “that my mission here is to save souls.”

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Cold, cold heart: The California First District Court of Appeals overruled a Superior Court ruling prohibiting Tom Candiotti’s former wife, Debra, from commenting on his current wife, Donna.

“Such remarks may be crude or unkind,” ruled Justice Carol Corrigan. “They may be motivated by hostility. But they cannot be prohibited under the California Constitution’s right of free speech.”

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Trivia answer: Nineteen runs, which they have scored three times--in 1969 against the San Diego Padres, in 1970 against the San Francisco Giants and in 1994 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Quotebook: Houston Rocket forward Clyde Drexler on officials: “Referees are a lot like players. Some of them just aren’t very good.”