This Young ‘Tatis’ Ties Tater Mark

Bill Clayton, a junior at Glenwood High in Chatham, Ill., hit three home runs in the second inning and pitched a no-hitter Tuesday in the Redskins’ 27-2 victory over Taylorville High.

According to the National High School Sports Record Book, Clayton is the third high school baseball player to hit three homers in one inning.

“They were calling me Tatis,” Clayton said, referring to Fernando Tatis, a St. Louis Cardinal third baseman who hit two grand slams in one inning April 23 against the Dodgers, becoming the first major leaguer to accomplish the feat.

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Trivia time: Which thoroughbred is the oldest living winner of the Kentucky Derby?

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Go away: Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune writing on people or things he wouldn’t mind seeing joining Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and John Elway in the “retirement bin”:

* “Juan Antonio Samaranch: Today would be good. Yesterday would have been better.

* “John Stockton and Karl Malone. They’re confusing younger NBA players by actually running plays.

* “40-yard dash times. They should never be printed or talked about . . . because they are lies.”

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A Ming dynasty: Yao Ming, a 7-foot-6, 270-pound player for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Assn., has signed Evergreen Sports of Cleveland to represent him.

The 18-year-old player with the Chinese national team apparently is considering the NBA draft next month.

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No-brainer: The new area code for Knox and eight surrounding counties in Tennessee should be easy to remember. Just dial V-O-L.

That’s short for Volunteers, as in University of Tennessee Volunteers.

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Don’t do it: A sampling of David Letterman’s “Top 10 Other Death-Defying Stunts Robbie Knievel Won’t Perform”:

* “Trying to cut in line for ‘Star Wars’ tickets.

* “Swimming less than an hour after eating.”

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Milestones: Frank O’Neill has the distinction of having been the Lakers’ trainer for their first regular-season game in L.A., at the Sports Arena on Oct. 24, 1960, and the physical therapist for the Clippers, who played their last league game at the Sports Arena on Wednesday.

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Trivia answer: Bold Forbes, 26, who won the Derby in 1976.

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And finally: Bob Ryan in the Boston Globe: “I don’t know who the best quarterback of all time was, but I don’t get the full-fledged Joe Montana adulation, when it was quite clear he was a ‘system’ quarterback and neither a Dan Marino pure passer nor a John Elway athlete.

“Out of context, there are plenty of guys I’d take over Montana.”

Montana led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories and holds six Super Bowl passing records. He is the second-highest rated passer of all-time--behind Steve Young.

He could scramble and throw accurately on the run. But, as Ryan says, that’s all due to the “system.”

By the way, Bob, who are the other guys you’d take over Montana?