Ripken Analogy Brings the Pope Down to Earth

Nicole Valentini and her 4-year-old son, Matthew, will meet with Pope John Paul II on Sunday in Baltimore.

She said it took some explaining to make Matthew aware of the momentous significance of their meeting.

“I said, ‘Well, he’s like the Cal Ripken of church.’ And he got it. Now he knows he’s seeing someone really important.”

Trivia time: Who holds the NFL record for highest career punting average?

Awestruck: The Seattle Mariners got a taste of the Big Apple at noisy Yankee Stadium during the American League divisional playoffs.

“They were throwing stuff and yelling and just going crazy, totally out of control,” Mariner first baseman Tino Martinez told John Eisenberg of the Baltimore Sun. “It was awesome. We get loud crowds at Seattle, but none of this wild, crazy stuff. It was unreal. Being in the playoffs in New York is great.”

Priorities: Marge Schott, owner of the Cincinnati Reds, held a champagne party at the Cincinnati zoo to celebrate the Reds’ division title and poured a drink down an elephant’s trunk as part of the festivities.

“That elephant,” said Manager Davey Johnson, who is expected to be fired at the end of the season, “has been to her house more than I have.”

Add Johnson: Months ago, he told Larry Guest of the Orlando Sentinel: “After we win the [World] Series this fall, I’ll become the first manager to win a world championship and then go shop around as a free agent.”

Tired act: Dennis Rodman has been traded by the San Antonio Spurs to the Chicago Bulls. But will he show up when training camp starts today?

In a radio interview, Rodman said: “That depends on how I feel. If I feel like I’m in a good situation, great. If I feel like it’s going to be San Antonio, I’ll just sit the whole damn year out, period.”

Come again? Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer nominates this call by Met broadcaster Ralph Kiner as the “Kinerism of the Year”:

“He [Andujar Cedeno] swings. And he is hit by a pitch. And it is hit over the wall and out of here for a home run.”

Looking back: On this day in 1963, Frank Howard led the Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees with a homer and a single for a four-game sweep of the World Series.

Trivia answer: Sammy Baugh of the Washington Redskins, 45.10 yards, 1937-1952.

Quotebook: Bob Kravitz in the Rocky Mountain News: “Chess would be a lot more exciting if they allowed trash talking. But that’s just me.”