For Shriver, It Was a Honey of a Moment

Pam Shriver played 18 years at Wimbledon, never winning a singles championship but sharing in five doubles titles.

Always noted for her humor, Shriver chose an unusual anecdote when asked what was her fondest memory of playing singles at Wimbledon.

“The year I played [Kathy] Rinaldi and she got stung by a bee,” Shriver said. “I took the stinger out. That was one of my better shots on Centre Court. I killed the bee and won the match.”

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Trivia time: Babe Ruth hit only 11 home runs in 1918. What was so unusual about that?

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Moving on: Bush Stadium in Indianapolis, one of the most beloved minor league baseball parks in the country, closed last Wednesday. The 65-year-old stadium had been the home of the Indianapolis Indians since 1931, and it also was used by the Negro leagues’ Indianapolis ABCs and Indianapolis Clowns in the 1930s and 1940s.

Cincinnati’s triple-A affiliate will begin playing at Victory Field, near the RCA Dome, this week.

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Go Wildcats: The British tabloids made much of Todd Martin’s victory over English hero Tim Henman in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, but it was not such a big deal to the American.

“I certainly don’t think my match [with Henman] is a bigger story than Northwestern getting to the Rose Bowl last year,” said Martin, a Northwestern alumnus.

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Hogan knew: When John Cook shot 258 at Memphis two weeks ago, it was accurately reported that he was one stroke off the 72-hole record of 257 set by Mike Souchak in 1955.

Souchak’s 257 was 27 under par on a par-71 course; Cook’s total was 26 under. Not reported, though, was that Ben Hogan shot a 27-under-par 261 on a par-72 course in the 1945 Portland Invitational. Souchak has the lowest 72-hole score, but he and Hogan share the record for the most under par.

“Hogan’s office was upset that Ben was overlooked in the coverage,” PGA Tour staffer Chuck Adams said.

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Good friends: San Francisco Giant teammates of pitcher William VanLandingham, unhappy over his inability to get batters out, refer to him as VanLaunchingpad.

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Looking back: Elaine Cheris is on the U.S. Olympic fencing team at age 50, but she is still bitter over President Jimmy Carter’s boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980.

“To me it was the worst single event next to having someone close to you die,” she said. “It was beyond my belief that it could happen. It shook my very foundation.”

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The answer: Bud Geracie of the San Jose Mercury News says the reason there are so few grand slams being hit this year is because “with everybody homering, it’s next to impossible to get three men on base.”

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Trivia answer: It led the major leagues.

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And finally: The Rev. Marv Mutzenberger of Bismarck, N.D., a softball fan, says that some folks believe the Bible refers to softball because it starts out: “In the big inning. . . . “