How in the Eck Can Gibson’s Homer Miss List?

Kirk Gibson’s game-winning home run off the Oakland A’s Dennis Eckersley in the ninth inning of the first game of the 1988 World Series at Dodger Stadium was voted the No. 1 moment in Los Angeles sports history, but it didn’t rate a mention on a list of 10 most famous home runs in a poll of fans conducted by Baseball America.

No. 1 was Bobby Thomson’s “shot heard ‘round the world” in the ninth inning of a National League playoff game that gave the New York Giants the 1951 pennant over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Second was Hank Aaron’s 715th homer on April 8, 1974, that broke Babe Ruth’s record. It came off the Dodgers’ Al Downing in Atlanta.

No. 10 was Bucky Dent’s three-run homer that gave the New York Yankees a playoff win over the Boston Red Sox in 1978. Dent had only four home runs during the season.

Surely the gimpy-legged Gibson’s dramatic blow off baseball’s premier relief pitcher rated ahead of that one.

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Trivia time: Eight Santa Anita Derby winners have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby, but can you name the three also-rans at Santa Anita who went on to win at Churchill Downs?

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Technical foul: Dennis Rodman has returned to the Chicago Bulls after his suspension, but his likeness on the side of a Chicago building is getting ejected.

The painting has been blamed for tying up traffic heading downtown on a busy expressway for two weeks, so officials of Bigsby & Kruthers clothiers, whose ad Rodman graces, decided to have it painted over. Rodman took it in stride.

“If they want to take me down, let them take me down. It might save some lives,” he said.

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Call Sam Spade: Helped by two hairs taken by souvenir hunters, scientists in Ireland hope to determine whether the remains of a horse exhumed recently are those of the kidnapped English Derby winner Shergar.

Two years after his triumph in 1981, the colt was stolen from a stud farm in Ballymany. He was never recovered. Although a $3-million ransom was demanded from the owner, the Aga Khan, reports suggested the horse was taken by the Irish Republican Army and killed within hours.

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The way it is: Kentucky professor Nancy Covenay was not thrilled by the celebration of students after the Wildcats’ NCAA championship victory over Syracuse.

“I do not weigh sports over academics,” she said after only seven of 24 students showed for her freshman English class Tuesday morning. “Unfortunately, sports is what seems to drive students.”

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Bad for the ERA: What can a coach do when his team is leading 71-1 in a college baseball game after four innings? That was a problem faced by St. Francis of Illinois Coach Tony Delgado in an NCAA Division II game against Robert Morris.

Delgado approached Robert Morris Coach Gerald McNamara and said he would be willing to stop the game when he felt it was appropriate. Four innings were enough.

Said winning pitcher Steve Ochman: “I would like to get that every game, but that’s a little bit ridiculous.”

Only 19 of St. Francis’ 71 runs were earned, because of 16 errors.

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Trivia answer: Gallahadion, 13th in 1940; Gato Del Sol, fourth in 1982; and Ferdinand, third in 1986.