Sutton’s Creed: There’s No Lying in Baseball

Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post writing on Don Sutton’s election to baseball’s Hall of Fame:

“Ironically, one of Sutton’s best qualities as a person might have kept him out of the Hall for a couple of extra years. He’s about as dead honest as they make ‘em. For years, it cost him prestige and votes.

“ ‘Comparing me to Sandy Koufax is like comparing Earl Scheib to Michelangelo,’ he once said after breaking a record of Koufax’s. Asked about his manager with the Dodgers, Tommy Lasorda, Sutton said, ‘I’m leery of Tommy. I believe in God, not the Big Dodger in the Sky.’ ”

*

Add Sutton: Late in his career, when hitters claimed his best pitches were the scuffball, the cut ball and the sandpaper ball, Sutton would stuff dirty notes in his pockets for umpires to find when they frisked him.

“That’s the only fun I have,” he lamented. “At least I ought to get a Black & Decker commercial out of it.”

*

Trivia time: What is the NBA record for most points by one team in the first half of a game?

*

Uh-oh: Pittsburgh Steeler Coach Bill Cowher can’t keep from losing Super Bowls to the Dallas Cowboys, even when they don’t count.

Cowher took on one of his three daughters in a video-game version of the Super Bowl on Christmas.

His daughter had the Cowboys. Cowher, of course, coached the Steelers--and he lost again.

Fortunately, he won’t have to worry about Dallas if the Steelers win Sunday to reach the Super Bowl.

*

Priorities: To Leland and Janet Hack of Stoughton, Wis., some things are more important than an all-expense-paid trip to the Super Bowl.

The Green Bay Packer fans won a trip to the big game in a raffle. However, they cashed it in and put the $5,000 toward the college education of their son, Bill.

*

Souper-stars: Tara Lipinski, Michelle Kwan and Nicole Bobek are skating into Campbell Soup Company history as the first women to appear on the famous red-and-white soup label.

The company is calling the trio its “Dream Team.” The skaters will be featured on 140 million labels that will appear on store shelves later this month.

*

For the record: The Rams defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the NFC championship in 1980. The year was incorrect in Tuesday’s Morning Briefing.

*

Trivia answer: 107, by Phoenix against Denver on Nov. 10, 1990.

*

And finally: Boston Bruin center Tim Taylor, who played for Detroit’s Stanley Cup-winning team last season, received his championship ring when the Red Wings visited Boston recently.

The ring is valued at $20,000. But first, Red Wing Coach Scotty Bowman kiddingly handed him a replica ring that came with the purchase of a pizza from the company owned by Red Wing owner Mike Ilitch.

Cost of the replica: $3.99.