Schott Comments Hit the Old Guard Close to Home

After Marge Schott was relieved of her duties as majority owner of the Cincinnati Reds for remarks about Adolf Hitler, New York Times columnist Russell Baker wrote that baseball and the German chancellor once had something in common:

“Hitler became furious because a black American sprinter, Jesse Owens, beat the flower of Aryan athletes in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Such an embarrassment could not have happened that year to major league baseball owners.

“They simply didn’t let blacks play.”

*

Trivia time: How many times has the Dodgers’ Hideo Nomo been named to a professional all-star team?

*

History lesson: The first race of the modern Olympics, in Athens 100 years ago, was the first heat of the 100-meter dash. It was won by Francis Lane of Princeton in 12.2 seconds.

*

Tennis critic: Simon Barnes, writing in the London Times, on the court habits of Mary Pierce:

“She clearly has ambitions of beating the Ivan Lendl all-Wimbledon record for the number of times the ball is bounced between serves. She is already way ahead of all contenders for the record of self-administered hair strokes during a service game.

“And she’s on the pole position in the championships this year for assuming the double-teapot position: both hands on hips in frank disbelief that any line judge, any umpire could do such a thing, to such a person as she, at such a time as this.”

*

Busy bopper: Eddie Murray of the Cleveland Indians has hit home runs in 32 ballparks, some of which no longer exist, tying Frank Robinson and Rusty Staub for most ever. The only current parks in which he hasn’t hit a homer are Colorado’s Coors Field and Toronto’s SkyDome.

*

Sound thinking: Golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez says he eats red meat every day. His reasoning: “I never saw a sick-looking tiger.”

*

Looking back: On this day in 1963, Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants beat Warren Spahn and the Milwaukee Braves, 1-0, in 16 innings. Willie Mays homered against the 42-year-old Spahn.

*

Stirring the Straw: Playing for the Northern League’s St. Paul Saints, Darryl Strawberry is batting .426, with 16 home runs in 27 games, and his .970 slugging percentage leads the league by 267 points.

*

Losers’ talk: Maybe it was losing, 1-0, to a rookie pitcher, or maybe it was because a 1-0 game took 2 hours 49 minutes, but Oakland Manager Art Howe criticized Angel rookie Ryan Hancock for working too slowly Sunday.

“He’s a human rain delay,” said Howe.

*

Trivia answer: Six, once with the Dodgers last year, and five times with the Kintetsu Buffaloes of the Japanese Pacific League.

*

And finally: Kobe Bryant, the 17-year-old Pennsylvania high school star who is coming to the Lakers in the Vlade Divac deal, explained why he opted for the NBA instead of college:

“This is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid. I’m still a little kid, but I’m a little kid who gets to play with the big kids.”