Baseball Wants an Impact Player to Be Like Him

Michael Jordan has had a $10 billion economic impact since his arrival in the NBA in 1984, according to estimates in the June 22 issue of Fortune Magazine.

“Jordan is so omnipresent, he creates a following which is principally his--rather than the team’s or the NBA’s,” said Donald Fehr, executive director of the baseball players union. “If we had somebody with that kind of presence, I’d do everything I could to prevent him from retiring.”

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Trivia time: Who is the only player to be named NBA finals most valuable player for two different teams?

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How about a pasta box?: CART drivers Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi have been named to appear on Wheaties cereal boxes, joining NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt as the only race drivers so honored.

“It’s a big honor for me,” Vasser said. “When this first came up, Alex asked, ‘What is this Wheaties?’ But he grew up in Italy.”

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No kidding: The big winner in John Elway’s decision to play one more year with the Denver Broncos may be CBS, which has Denver playing in seven of its 11 nationally televised games in its return to the NFL.

“The promos sure look better with Elway than [Bubby] Brister,” writes Bob Glauber of Newsday.

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What’s the hurry: Maynard Trudeau, 74, won $250,000 by making a three-point shot during halftime of Game 2 of the NBA finals, but he says he won’t be spending it any time soon.

“I don’t retire until I’m 80,” said Trudeau, a carpet installer and part-time security guard from Boynton Beach, Fla.

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Crooks love hoops: From the dropoff in Salt Lake City 911 calls, it appears that even Utah’s criminals are Jazz fans during the NBA playoffs.

Dispatchers usually can count on up to 200 calls for law enforcement assistance per hour on an average night. During Wednesday night’s finals opener, however, calls were down to about 100 per hour, and by the end of the fourth quarter, it was less than a call per minute.

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Baseball bargain: The Cleveland Indians sold out four million shares of common stock in about an hour at $15 a share, but when told investors had to buy at least 100 shares, it scared off Joe Charboneau, a fan favorite when he played with the Indians from 1980-82.

“I think it’s a great deal but it’s out of my price range,” said Charboneau, who now runs baseball camps.

He obviously wasn’t still playing in the ‘90s.

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Trivia answer: Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, 1971 with Milwaukee and 1985 with the Lakers.

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And finally: LPGA golfer Annika Sorenstam wasn’t all that impressed with St. Louis’ adulation of Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire when she played there last week.

Told that McGwire had recently hit a 545-foot home run at Busch Stadium, Sorenstam did the yardage calculations in her head and said that that was only a “medium five iron” for her.