One More Player Spins Off Rocker

When John Rocker runs out of people willing to put up with him, which will happen the moment he blows consecutive save chances, he should know he’s welcome at Will Clark’s place, where there’s always a hootenanny goin’ on.

This winter in a Sports Illustrated article, Rocker metaphorically killed nearly every minority group in spitting range. But it was Clark who killed the last person standing: The messenger. Even Rocker knew better.

Clark was amblin’ through the Baltimore Oriole clubhouse one afternoon this spring when he spotted Jeff Pearlman, the Sports Illustrated writer who asked the question that set off Rocker. That is, “So, what’s up?”

An overheated Clark, his face reaching the color of his neck, berated Pearlman for writing the article and all but ordered him out of a clubhouse that technically wasn’t his to order people out of. The lanky Pearlman retreated until stopped by Delino DeShields and Charles Johnson, Clark’s teammates, both black.

“That article needed to be written,” DeShields told Pearlman, a sentiment that diffused a bad situation and spoke for millions.

Hill of beans: By all accounts, and considering it has only the outdated Astrodome against which to be held, Enron Field was well-received in Houston. By the way, that makes two blustery, bloated objects to be retired by Houston in the same winter, the first being Charles Barkley.

Anyway, in their zeal to make their new stadium unique, Astro officials included an in-play flag pole atop a slope in center field. The medial collateral ligament graveyard was the brainchild of Astro President Tal Smith.

Yankee Manager Joe Torre asserted that if Smith liked the Iwo Jima thing so much, “He could have put it in his backyard.”

Give the guy a little credit, though. He had the hammock and Weber grill removed well before the first pitch.

‘Country,’ right or wrong: The Baltimore Sun recently polled readers on whether the club should continue to play the John Denver anthem “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” following “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch.

“Country Boy,” an Oriole tradition since the Brooks Robinson days, was panned decisively.

Owner Peter Angelos, as if he didn’t have enough to worry about, said he would be willing to change the selection, “if there’s another song that strikes a chord with them.”

Well, “We are the Champions” is definitely out.

Chip off the ol’ block: Tommy Lasorda hasn’t managed a baseball game in nearly four years and still the shots keep coming, primarily from those who claim to see too much of Lasorda in New York Met Manager Bobby Valentine.

Cub Manager Don Baylor accused Valentine of attempting to freeze closer Rick Aguilera in a lineup card protest, and then said, “I try to ignore him as much as possible. I know that he tries to disrupt other people. He’s always done it. I played against him. I know who his mentor is, so I take it with a grain of salt.”

Baylor then implied that if a fight were to start between the two teams, he would go after Valentine.

Chuckles: Quote of the week: Chuck Finley, on receiving a three-year, $27-million contract at the age of 37: “I’m only 30 in Dominican years.”

Say it ain’t so: No one lived with more dignity than Joe DiMaggio. No one. Now this.

His lawyer, Morris Engelberg, claims to be the protector of the DiMaggio image. But he was knocking on auction house doors before the eulogy was done, and this week the family vetoed San Francisco’s request to name a park after DiMaggio, saying that a bridge or an airport would be a more suitable tribute.

If DiMaggio were to roll over in his grave, Engelberg would sell the video rights.

Young and stupid: The Dodgers had to love this.

The Cubs trailed, 7-1, on Monday. They had runners at first and third in the eighth inning. Two were out.

Then Eric Young, the runner at first base, was thrown out attempting to steal second base, which ended the inning--with Sammy Sosa at the plate.