Something Was Rotten in Pittsburgh

A recent headline in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette read: “Woolford sniffs out future with Steelers.” It was meant literally.

Donnell Woolford, then a free-agent cornerback, visited Steeler headquarters at Three Rivers Stadium and had to step gingerly around raw sewage.

“It’s the fifth time since last fall [that Steeler] offices have been flooded by broken pipes and whatnot,” wrote Ed Bouchette of the Post-Gazette.

Even though the Steelers made a foul-smelling first impression on Woolford, the eight-year veteran of the Chicago Bears signed a four-year contract with the team last Saturday.

Trivia time: Who was the first Los Angeles Dodger to hit an inside-the-park home run?

Whatever you say: This from Phil Rizzuto broadcasting a New York Yankee game on July 10, 1992:

“And he hits one in the hole. They’re going to have to hurry. THEY’LL NEVER GET HIM! They got him. How do you like that. Holy cow! I changed my mind before he got there so that doesn’t count as an error.”

Makes sense: Tennis magazine reported that when Thomas Muster, the world’s top clay-court player, was asked why he chose to build a grass court at his house in Austria, he replied:

“It’s easy to make it into a putting green when I don’t feel like playing tennis anymore.”

Taxi! Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune, after the San Diego Padres sold the negotiating rights to Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu to the New York Yankees for $3 million and two players:

“Anyone who insists on being in New York obviously never has been there.”

How true: In his book, “Bobby Jones on Golf,” the legendary golfer wrote: “We have no assurances after hitting 17 fine tee shots, that the 18th will not be disgraceful.”

Looking back: On this day in 1990, Nolan Ryan tied Bob Feller’s major league record of 12 one-hitters as the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 1-0. Ryan struck out 16.

Trivia answer: Joe Pignatano, on June 18, 1958, at Philadelphia.

And finally: A middle school in McHenry, Ill., is bucking a trend, adopting the nickname “Redskins.” The McHenry County school board approved changing Huntley Middle School’s team name from Royals, Principal Terry Awrey said, adding that the change was prompted by a planned relocation of the school this summer to shared quarters with Huntley High, whose nickname was already the Redskins. Students had voted by a comfortable margin to adopt the new name.

“It has not become an issue here in Huntley,” Awrey said.

But Candice Esquivel, an Ojibway Indian and executive director of the American Indian Center in nearby Chicago, objected, saying, “Redskin, where I come from, is a derogatory term. . . . We just find it demeaning.”