Bradley Was Running Even Before Politics

Tom Bradley, who died Tuesday, was a creditable athlete in football and track and field.

The former mayor of Los Angeles made the All-City team as a tackle in 1936 while playing for Polytechnic High. As a junior at the school, he won the 440-yard dash in the All-City track meet.

After enrolling at UCLA, he intended to participate in both sports but changed his mind. “I started school in the spring and ran track my first semester,” he said. “Then, they said, ‘We don’t want you breaking your leg out on the football field.’ ”

Bradley competed in track at UCLA from 1938 to 1940 and had a best time of 48.6 seconds in the 440--notable for that era.

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Trivia time: Which NFL quarterback has the record for being sacked?

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The big rush: San Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young has had several concussions but, at 36, he is still eager to play.

“The truth of it is that you get hooked on the adrenaline,” he told the Boston Globe. “There’s not too many things you can do that can start the adrenaline pumping like playing quarterback in the NFL.”

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Fairway future: Albert Belle of the Chicago White Sox, on what he wants to do after his baseball career ends: “I want to own my own golf course. And run it myself.”

Prospective golfers at Belle’s club would be advised to replace their divots.

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Of course it is: Sparky Anderson, the Angels’ television commentator whose grammar would make an English teacher wince, on Japanese pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa’s learning to speak English fluently:

“His English is better than mine.”

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Angel land: Bruce Jenkins in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Most Pathetic Sight: Disney Chairman Michael Eisner making jokes about the team’s annual collapse.

“The Angels are just a plaything to Disney. Trillions and trillions of coin, and it all goes to Tinkerbell.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1950, Jim Hardy threw six touchdown passes, five to Bob Shaw, as the Chicago Cardinals routed the Baltimore Colts, 55-13.

Hardy, a former USC quarterback, also played for the Rams from 1946 to 1948.

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Trivia answer: John Elway of the Denver Broncos, 498 times not counting this season.

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Randall Cunningham has the record for being sacked in a season, 72, when he played for Philadelphia in 1986.

And finally: Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer has his regular season-ending baseball awards, including these non-achieving categories:

“NL Cy Yuck: Pedro Astacio, Rockies. Gave up 150 runs--the most by an NL non-knuckler since 1938--and tossed in 38 gopher balls, 17 hit batters and a 6.23 ERA.

“AL Cy Yuck: Jaime Navarro, White Sox. Followed up his 1997 5.79 ERA by becoming the first pitcher in this century to have an ERA that high and then get worse (to 6.36).