If Fans Shared His View, He’d Be All Alone

Larry Walker, the Colorado Rockies’ all-star right fielder, thoroughly enjoys himself during lulls in games by talking to fans outside the Rockies’ bullpen.

So, does he talk about baseball?

“Not if I can help it,” Walker told Baseball Weekly. “I wish I could tell you I love baseball and love watching baseball on TV because it’s so exciting. But it isn’t.

“It’s boring on TV, and even more boring in person. I realize baseball is a big business, but it’s still a kid’s game.

“So there is no reason you can’t go out there, have fun and screw around.”

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Trivia time: What was unusual about Arnold Palmer’s only U.S. Open victory in 1960?

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Which is it? Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times, commenting on Phil Jackson becoming the Laker coach:

“Real or phony? Guru or goofball? A legitimate Hall of Famer or another [Michael] Jordan creation doomed to flop without him?

“A curious basketball world, never too fond of Jackson’s arrogance and ego, can’t wait to find out. The big talk of the NBA finals doesn’t involve the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks, but whether Jackson will be as lost and confused in Los Angeles as other former Bull comrades have been in the Jordan afterlife.”

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Tongue in cheek: Peter Vecsey of the New York Post on some reasons why the Knicks will beat the Spurs:

* “Chris Dudley says David Robinson snubbed him for an autograph when he was in high school.

* “Robinson and [Tim] Duncan will tire themselves out blocking Dudley’s shots.

* “Knicks are determined not to be the first team to lose to an ABA team in the finals.”

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Confusing: Eddie Stanky, the feisty second baseman who died recently at 83, said after negotiating a contract with Brooklyn Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey in 1945:

“I got a million dollars worth of free advice and a very small raise.”

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Security port: John Kent Cooke, the outgoing president of the Washington Redskins, who received $60 million from the team’s sale to Daniel Snyder, is retiring to Bermuda, where he’ll save nearly $6 million in income taxes.

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Elite injury: Dan Bickley in the Arizona Republic: “Nothing against David Duval, but suffering second-degree burns while lifting a teapot is merely the perfect metaphor for a country club sport.”

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Trivia answer: He came from seven strokes back on the final day to win at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver.

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And finally: The Class-A Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs will celebrate National Kill-a-Stain Day on June 30 when they play the Augusta (Ga.) GreenJackets.

Fans who drop off their laundry at the gate before the first pitch will have it washed, dried and folded while they watch the game.

Comment from Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle: “In other words, the whole organization is in the cleanup position.”