You Can Never Give Sterling Too Much Credit for This

“The Worst Franchise in Sports History,” Sports Illustrated says of the Clippers.

Now there’s something to build on.

Bill Veeck bought the St. Louis Browns of the American League in July 1951 and, considering that the team was already 23 1/2 games out of first place, promoted it as the worst team that had ever existed.

“If your town is destroyed by a hurricane, there’s no sense having it almost the worst hurricane in history,” he wrote in his autobiography, “VEECK--As in Wreck.”

“There’s a certain satisfaction in being with a record breaker.”

In speeches to community groups, Veeck would say, “I’m not asking you to come out and see the Browns this year. In fact, I advise you not to. It hurts. I only go out because I have to.”

Attendance soared.

Sports Illustrated actually was kind to Donald T. Sterling because, although it fingered him as the man responsible for “The Worst Franchise in Sports History,” it didn’t call him the worst owner.

He’s not even the worst in NBA history. The Cleveland Cavaliers had an owner named Ted Stepien in the ‘80s who was so inept that league officials mandated that he had to clear trades with them.

“All the GMs in the league were afraid to go to lunch because they were afraid they might miss a call from Ted,” said Tom Nissalke, one of his former coaches.

Richard Hoffer, the author of the article on the Clippers, gave Sterling too much credit, or not enough blame, when writing, “ . . . surely no owner could weave a web of defeat like this all by himself. It’s more probably a team effort, each man doing his worst, nobody’s hand really on the wheel.”

No, it’s pretty much all Sterling’s fault.

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USC quarterback Carson Palmer didn’t look as if he’d missed a down during spring drills. . . .

But the Trojans have put out an APB for a kicker. . . .

Maybe they should try recruiting one in Poland. . . .

R. Jay Soward’s selection Saturday gave USC its 60th first-round draft choice, more than any other school. Notre Dame is second with 57. . . .

Whatever happened to Ron Powlus? . . .

He’s the backup quarterback for one of Kurt Warner’s former teams, the Amsterdam Admirals. . . .

UCLA increased its lead in NCAA championships with the women’s gymnastics title Saturday. The Bruins have 81, five more than USC and Stanford. . . .

The UCLA women gymnasts had an average grade-point average during the winter quarter of 3.5. . . .

The team loses two seniors, including Heidi Moneymaker, who now has to go make money. . . .

Don King has been called a lot of names, but he heard a first Saturday night. . . .

Fernando Vargas, after his victory over Ike Quartey, called the promoter “Mr. King.” . . .

King was impressed but is still angling to put Felix Trinidad into the ring against Oscar De La Hoya. . . .

Wouldn’t you? A Vargas-Trinidad fight would be worth $15 million, compared with $40 million for De La Hoya-Trinidad. . . .

That’s if De La Hoya beats Sugar Shane Mosley on June 17 at Staples Center. Both fighters opened their Big Bear training camps Monday. . . .

The De La Hoya-Mosley pay-per-view fight is one of four boxing telecasts scheduled that weekend from Los Angeles. . . .

All will be promoted by Bob Arum, who lists possible sites of the three other cards as the Olympic Auditorium, the Sports Arena and the Theater for Variety Arts. . . .

Equally anticipated that week would be the Kobe Bryant-Chris Childs rematch if the Lakers and New York Knicks reached the finals. . . .

One of the best Dodger pickups was catcher Chad Kreuter, who made sure Chan Ho Park stayed focused after giving up a two-run home run in the fourth inning of a 5-3 loss Sunday. . . .

Unfortunately for headline writers, it looks as if Scott Schoeneweis is going to be around a while. . . .

Most surprising about Chuck Finley’s performance Sunday was not that he struck out four batters in one inning--he had, after all, done that twice before--but that he beat Texas. . . .

He is known as a Yankee killer but had an 8-17 record and a 4.73 earned-run average against the Rangers when pitching for the Angels. . . .

After winning his first game for the Indians, he said: “The fans are great. They stay around until the final out. I’m used to the crowd trickling out in the fifth inning.”

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Jay Leno reports that the Green Bay Packers have banned the Lambeau Leap.

“Apparently,” he says, “one of their players landed on a baby-sitter.”

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