Tisdale Would Have Sooner Played Bass Than Basketball

Wayman Tisdale thought he had made the big time as a youngster when he was invited to play bass for the choir at his father’s Friendship Baptist Church in Tulsa, Okla.

A career as a professional musician was put on hold, however, when he grew to be 6 feet 9 and developed a turnaround jump shot.

“I figured I would be a musician until I grew two feet in one summer,” the Phoenix Sun forward said. “Then, the music had to take a little bit of a back seat. I never really put it away, but it had to go on the back burner for a while.”

Add Tisdale: Now the bass is back.

MoJazz, the jazz division of Motown records, is releasing 14 urban-contemporary tunes driven by Tisdale’s electric bass. “Power Forward,” his first jazz album, is due in stores Tuesday.

Trivia time: Dr. Benjamin Spock, the baby expert, won a gold medal in the 1924 Olympic Games. In what sport?

It’s in the genes: Don Zimmer, who abruptly ended his career by retiring quietly in the middle of a Colorado Rockies game last week, is not entirely through with baseball.

“I took a couple of bats home,” he said, “because I’m sure on the night of the 24th, I’ll be hitting infield [practice] for my grandsons’ team.”

The twin 12-year-olds will be playing in an all-star game in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Remembering the Mick: A heckler once got on Detroit’s Al Kaline, shouting that he wasn’t half the player Mickey Mantle was, to which the Hall of Fame outfielder replied:

“No one is half as good as Mickey Mantle.”

Hello, Riles: Doc Rivers, who spent a season with the New York Knicks, told Shaun Powell of Newsday a story he said summed up Coach Pat Riley’s relationship with his players.

“During a trip, Rivers and Derek Harper stepped inside a hotel elevator,” Powell wrote. “Just as the doors began to close, a hand pried them open, and Riley joined the players. They were the only passengers.

“During the ride up, Riley never acknowledged Rivers or Harper, never spoke, never even glanced in their direction. He stared straight ahead. When the doors opened and Riley stepped off, Harper and Rivers looked at each other in disbelief.”

Different strokes: Race drivers’ sons often follow in their father’s footsteps, a la Al Unser Jr., Michael Andretti, Kyle Petty, et al., but not Roger Penske’s son.

Mark Penske was co-captain of Cranbrook School’s lacrosse team, the Michigan state champions.

Practice makes enemies: The father of a high school baseball player in Dallas was fined $650 after jurors found that a back-yard batting cage he built violates building and zoning ordinances.

But the penalties won’t prevent Chase Russell from using the cage, pending the outcome of a lawsuit. Russell, seeking a college baseball scholarship, used $5,400 of his savings to build the cage. But the noise and lighting annoyed some neighbors.

Trivia answer: Rowing, as a member of Yale’s eight-oared shell.

Quotebook: Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devil defenseman, on the Devils’ controversial defensive trap: “They can ban it after this year so long as we win the [Stanley] Cup.”