Do as the Referee Says, but Not as He Once Did

It was the summer of ’69. The Visalia Mets were playing the Stockton Ports in a crucial game to determine the champion for the first half of the season in the California League.

The Ports had the tying run on third with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Veteran right-hander Ray King had a 2-2 count on the hitter when the base umpire called time out and went to the clubhouse.

“What’s going on?” Met manager Harry Minor asked home plate umpire Terry Cooney. “He couldn’t wait until we get one more out to go to the bathroom?”

“No,” Cooney said. “He thinks your pitcher has been balking and he’s going to the clubhouse to check the rule book.”

Maybe those weren’t the exact words, but Minor, now a special assistant to the general manager of the New York Mets, did the best he could after almost 30 years to recall the exchange during a phone conversation Thursday from his home in Long Beach.

Minor did remember that the base umpire returned to the field after five minutes and nodded to Cooney, who then called a balk on King, allowing the tying run to score from third.

The Ports won the game--and the championship--in the 13th inning, no wonder considering that Cooney ejected the Mets’ manager, pitcher and several other players in the melee that followed the balk call.

“There was a big blowup,” Minor said.

No one exploded higher than a normally mild-mannered schoolteacher who moonlighted in the summers as a left-handed pitcher. He wasn’t in the game but came off the bench and spat water in the base umpire’s face.

“He really went berserk,” said Dennis Gilbert, the Visalia center fielder who later became one of baseball’s most successful agents.

The pitcher’s name? Terry Christman, who went on to become a Pacific 10 Conference basketball official now known for lighting Steve Lavin’s fuse.

*

Lawrence Taylor still blames everyone except Lawrence Taylor for his off-the-field problems. . . .

“They teach us to run, they teach us to fight, they teach us to trash-talk, to give our heart and soul,” Taylor said during a news conference here Thursday for the five players elected Saturday to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. . . .

“Sometimes you can’t differentiate and be a choirboy on Monday morning.” . . .

Eric Dickerson, who also will be inducted next summer, said he’s still a Ram at heart. . . .

“If they go to Siberia, then I’m a Siberian Ram,” he said. . . .

Insert your own Georgia Frontiere joke here. . . .

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was in Los Angeles on Wednesday, said he’s not concerned about this market, although attendance is down as both teams struggle. . . .

“It’s the normal ebb and flow,” he said. . . .

The Kings have experienced more ebb than flow in recent seasons, but Bettman said that was to be expected, considering the legacy left behind by Bruce McNall. . . .

The Kings can’t talk about Jaromir Jagr because that’s tampering. But I can. . . .

Bettman said he wouldn’t prevent Pittsburgh from trading Jagr to the Kings if the trade made sense competitively. In other words, the Kings can’t buy him. . . .

Even if Notre Dame decides today to join the Big Ten, the traditional football rivalry with USC is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. The Irish and Trojans have a contract to play each other through 2010. . . .

It’s good to hear the crack instead of the ping of the bat in college baseball. A lot of teams, including USC, are using wood until Louisville Slugger produces aluminum bats meeting new NCAA standards. . . .

Catcher Eric Munson’s doesn’t seem any weaker. . . .

He used a wood bat to hit one of the most impressive home runs in Dedeaux Field history last week. The ball hit between the seventh and eighth levels of the parking garage behind the right-field fence. . . .

I started to go to Laker practice Thursday at Southwest College to see whether Dennis Rodman was there. . . .

Silly me. Even if the Lakers had signed Rodman, the next-to-last place I would find him would be at practice. . . .

The last place would be at home with wife Carmen Electra, who has declared her house off limits to him from Monday through Friday.

*

While wondering who will argue with Boomer Esiason now, I was thinking: The Ducks were smart to sign Guy Hebert and will be very smart if they sign Paul Kariya, Mark McGwire has the pope on his side and so probably doesn’t need the IOC’s blessings, funny how those Maryland motorists are on Mike Tyson’s side now that they got their settlement.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com