Half of Being President Is 90% Mental

President Bush, the former co-owner of the Texas Rangers and an unabashed baseball fan, recently invited more than 40 Hall of Famers to lunch.

He paid special tribute to Yogi Berra, who is known, like Bush, to mangle a sentence every now and then.

“Yogi has been an inspiration to me--not only because of his baseball skills--but of course for his enduring mark he left on the English language. Some of the press corps even think he might be my speech writer,” Bush said.

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Trivia time: Who holds the record for steals in a men’s NCAA championship basketball game?

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Best to worst: Maxim magazine, through its Web site, is introducing “Fallacy Baseball,” in which players compete to field the worst possible team.

Batters get points for strikeouts, hitting into double plays and being hit by pitches--and lose points for hits and runs scored. Pitchers earn points for blown saves, balks and losses, and are penalized for wins and strikeouts.

“We wanted to turn fantasy baseball on its collective head,” Gene Newman, the site’s executive editor, told the Orlando Sentinel. “Anyone can pick the best players.”

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Real progress: Tom FitzGerald in the San Francisco Chronicle: “A Giants press release about opening day at Pacific Bell Park reports: ‘Men will be relieved to note that 34 urinals were added to the existing 23 men’s rooms.’

“Who says expansion hasn’t helped baseball?”

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Unique distinction: Former major leaguer Jim Delsing, who ran for Eddie Gaedel 50 years ago: “A lot of people say [Roger] Maris hit 61 [home runs]. But I’m the only one who ran for a midget.”

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Or, Coach S? Bob Sansevere of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press on one of the imponderables of the Final Four: “Why is Duke men’s basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski called Coach K? His last name is pronounced Sha-shef-ski. Shouldn’t he be Coach Sha?”

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Skull session: NFL owners voted to outlaw bandannas and stocking caps under helmets, although skull cups in team colors are allowed.

“We passed the yarmulke resolution,” joked Baltimore Raven owner Art Modell, who is Jewish. “Yes, the yarmulke should have stripes in Cincinnati and stars in Dallas.”

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Trivia answer: Tommy Amaker, Duke vs. Louisville, 1986, and Mookie Blaylock, Oklahoma vs. Kansas, 1988, with seven.

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And finally: Mike Tyson’s mansion in Farmington, Conn., was recently put back on the market for about $5 million, far below the original asking price of $22 million. The estate includes 18 bedrooms and 38 bathrooms in 56,000 square feet on 17 acres, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Among the amenities: a 20-foot waterfall, a 1,500-square-foot health club with 28 workout stations and a 3,500-square-foot nightclub that includes a two-tier dance floor, smoke machine, DJ station and a wall of 20 TV screens.