But Watch Out for That Divorce Rate

St. Louis Ram Coach Rich Brooks, winding up a two-week break at his new home in Springfield, Ore., told Ken Wheeler of the (Portland) Oregonian:

“I know that for some in the organization, going from L.A. to St. Louis is bad. But I think it’s a better job for me in St. Louis than it was in L.A. I think the enthusiasm will carry over from the fans to the players. I think I’ve got a better chance to turn it around in St. Louis than in L.A.

“It’ll be better than playing in a half-filled stadium with them booing you half of the time. . . .

“I don’t think there is such a thing as a honeymoon in the NFL, but at least we’re going in with a good-looking date.”

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Trivia time: Eddie Murray is one of three major league baseball players to reach 3,000 hits without having a 200-hit season. Who are the other two?

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Never say never: Behind the left-field fence at Yankee Stadium stands a monument to Lou Gehrig, with the following inscription:

“A man, a gentleman and a great ball player whose amazing record of 2,130 consecutive games should stand for all time.”

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Begin at home: When M.L. Carr, the Boston Celtic general manager, selected himself as coach, it moved Michael Arace of the Hartford Courant to write: “In his quest to find the right man to fill the Boston Celtics’ coaching vacancy, it appears that M.L. Carr left no mirror unadorned.”

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Change of heart: Harry Cahayadi Si, a prominent race horse owner in Singapore who once threatened to shoot his 57 horses if his club suspended him over allegations of betting irregularities, has changed his mind. Now he’s going to quit racing and raise chickens.

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Good omen: Mari Hulman George, chairman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, presented a brick from the 86-year-old Indy track’s original surface to officials of Walt Disney World to be used in construction of the new one-mile oval in Orlando, Fla.

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Frustration: Pittsburgh fans are a tough lot. At a recent game in Three Rivers Stadium, a banner hung from the right-field stands: “Go Back On Strike!”

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All but the big one: Sam Snead never won a U.S. Open, Ernie Banks never played in a World Series and Dale Earnhardt has never won the Daytona 500, but the 2 1/2-mile Daytona oval has not been all that bad to the seven-time Winston Cup champion.

Earnhardt has won 26 times at Daytona: Six in the Busch Clash, eight in 125-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500, three in IROC events, seven in Busch Grand National races and two in the July Pepsi 400 Winston Cup event.

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Trivia answer: Carl Yastrzemski and Dave Winfield.

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Quotebook: Former Dodger pitcher Jerry Reuss, on pitching in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park: “They said it wasn’t a bad place except for the wind. That’s like saying hell wouldn’t be a bad place if it weren’t for the heat.”