Have Glove, Will Travel . . . to Cooperstown?

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Ray Ordonez, the New York Mets’ rookie shortstop, is already being compared to Ozzie Smith, “acknowledged as the greatest defensive shortstop in baseball history.”

When Met Manager Dallas Green was in Philadelphia, he managed Larry Bowa, who has the highest career and single-season fielding percentages for shortstops in National League history.

Green said: “Bowa was very steady and very consistent, a great two-out shortstop. But this guy [Ordonez] . . . he will pass them all before it’s all over.”

*

Trivia time: Which USC athletes were known as the “Heavenly Twins”?

*

Sacked: Dan “the Peanut Man” Kudroff was trying to throw a bag of peanuts across several sections during a June 18 game between the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox at Jacobs Field.

The bag missed the customer and instead smacked an unsuspecting woman in the face, dislodging a contact lens and overturning her nachos.

Kudroff blamed his bad pitch on the wind, but a concessionaire company is now firmly enforcing a no-throwing rule.

*

What’s his motive? Ron Borges of the Boston Globe reports that Arizona Sen. John McCain’s bill designed to improve boxer safety has run into some opposition in the House.

Rep. Bill Richarson (D-N.M.) had a reasonable complaint. “Don King is in favor of this bill,” he said. “That concerns me.”

*

Friendly fellow: UCLA has redone the image of its make-believe mascot, Joe Bruin. Joe will now have a happy face, in contrast to some of his fierce images of the past.

*

Stay healthy: St. Louis Cardinal rookie pitcher Alan Benes, after Jose Vizcaino of the New York Mets got three hits against him, making him nine for nine against Benes:

“He sent a bottle of champagne to me before the game because he knew I was pitching.”

*

Motivated: Basketball player Dawn Staley ran the Olympic torch up the Philadelphia Art Museum stairs recently to the theme from the movie “Rocky.”

“I planned to run one step at a time,” Staley said. “But I ended up skipping by twos.”

*

Eye strain: Spectators may be seeing double if they attend some sports events at Gettysburg (Pa.) College.

There are six sets of identical twins involved in sports at the school. Three sets are males and three are females.

*

Farewell? NBC reporter Bud Collins on slumping Andre Agassi in USA Today:

“His mind is pretty much blank these days. He’s in love [with Brooke Shields] and has enough money to pay off the national debt. Is he even interested in tennis anymore?”

*

Bald prediction: From The Good Doctor in Inside Sports:

Question: Back when Roger Maris was trying for 61 home runs, reporters wrote that his hair fell out. What would happen if Albert Belle hit 61 home runs?

Answer: Reporters’ hair will fall out.

*

Trivia answer: Earle Meadows and Bill Sefton, who set a world record in the pole vault of 14 feet 11 inches on May 29, 1937 at the Coliseum.

*

And finally: Lee Trevino has long been recognized as one of the fastest players in golf. And he is impatient with slow players. One such golfer, in Trevino’s opinion, is Gary Player.

“He’d line up a six-inch putt four ways even if he needed it for a 12,” Trevino said.