Gibson Is Not This Devil Ray’s Advocate

Wade Boggs reached 3,000 hits, but that achievement didn’t change Kirk Gibson’s feelings about the Tampa Bay Devil Ray third baseman.

“When he kissed home plate, I rolled my eyes,” said Gibson, the former Dodger hero who is now a Detroit Tiger broadcaster. “That was vintage Wade. That’s the reason he doesn’t get respect. He’s me-me, I-I. I don’t take away his 3,000 hits, that’s a great achievement. But it takes 25 guys to win a championship.”

The other side: “It’s the same dead horse that I’ve been defending myself against since I was in Boston,” Boggs responded. “It’s opinion. Everybody has one--some good, some bad.”

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Trivia time: Which major leaguer played the longest without being on the disabled list?

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Yellow bonanza: Fans at most motor races are besieged by sponsors handing out various items plastered with their logo. In the last year, Pennzoil distributed 1,402,750 driver autograph cards, 5,945 ear plugs, 269,375 team posters, 35,338 key chains, 45,922 hats, 715,610 oval stickers, 496,280 yellow carrying bags and 516 umbrellas.

Hope you got your share.

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The way it is: Manager Felipe Alou says he isn’t the least bit embarrassed that his Montreal Expos were 52-73, 25 1/2 games behind Atlanta.

“It’s capitalism at work,” Alou said. “There’s no pity for the lame.”

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Fast forward: After Tony Ayala’s comeback win after 16 years in prison on a rape charge, his advisor, Don Elbaum, said, “This fight, to me, starts the countdown to Oscar De La Hoya.”

To which New York Post boxing writer Wallace Matthews commented, “For Ayala, that will be like going from a bicycle to a motorcycle.”

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Ill feelings: The suspension of Jamaican track star Merlene Ottey after traces of a steroid were found in her system did not sit well in her native country.

“It makes me want to cry that they would want to tear down this wonderful woman, this perfect picture of an African,” Howard Clarke told the Associated Press.

“They” would be Americans, British and “most everyone in the world who think of Jamaicans as drug dealers and criminals,” and so have “done this as an act of revenge.”

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Water the same: Swimmer Amy Van Dyken, who won four gold medals at the Atlanta Olympics, is mounting a comeback aimed at making the team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Asked by Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury News if she felt strange about returning to training, Van Dyken said, “Only because I forgot my locker combination and forgot where I put my equipment bag. Once I got into the pool, I felt as if I hadn’t even left.”

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Trivia answer: Tony Perez, 23 seasons. Next is Darrell Evans, 21 seasons.

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And finally: New York Yankee pitcher David Cone named legendary Negro League pitcher Satchel Paige as the player he would most enjoy having as a teammate.

“I’m still working on that hesitation pitch [of his],” Cone told Sport magazine. “I’m fascinated by Satchel.”

Late in his career, at 42, Paige signed a major league contract and pitched six seasons.