Remaining Solvent Is Crucial in Name Game

Sports fans who fondly remember ballparks named Jack Murphy, Candlestick, Joe Robbie and the Astrodome must be enjoying the demise of some fancy monikers now in use. For instance:

Enron Field, home of baseball’s Houston Astros. Naming rights were to be worth $100 million over 30 years to the Astros, but Enron, the energy company behind the deal, has filed for bankruptcy.

Pro Player Stadium (formerly Joe Robbie), home of football’s Miami Dolphins, was named for a sportswear line of Fruit of the Loom men’s underwear. Today, Fruit of the Loom is in bankruptcy and there is no longer any Pro Player line, but the stadium lives on.

*

Trivia time: Which major league relief pitcher threw the most pitches last season?

*

Looking ahead: Noting the increase in sports advertising, Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle had this to offer:

“In a few years, basketballs on TV will bear virtual ads that change with every possession. And the term ‘turnover’ will be changed to something an ad person understands: ‘give-back.”’

*

Farfetched: The National Baseball Hall of Fame is on record with its all-patriotic team: Sadaharu OH, Ron CEY, Jose CANseco, Buck EWing and Larry SEE.

Its second team: Red Schoendienst, Sammy White and Vida Blue.

*

Coming soon: Drag race champion Kenny Bernstein was extolling the virtues of the National Hot Rod Assn. on its 50th anniversary when he exclaimed, “This sport is on a rocket ship to the moon.”

Said one wag, “What a headline that will make: ‘Moon to Get Date on NHRA Schedule.”’

*

Yankee power: If for some reason the New York Yankees fail to sign Jason Giambi, Ken Rudulph of “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” says, “The Yankees are expected to go to Plan 5, offering $120 million to simply purchase the World Series Trophy.”

*

Another fashion plate: He’s no Jesper Parnevik, but Thomas Brent “Boo” Weekley made a sartorial impression this week at the PGA Tour’s Q-school in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Weekley plays golf wearing sneakers, because golf shoes hurt his feet, and rain pants, because cotton pants leave him with a rash.

“I know I don’t wear the right attire for everybody, but that’s just me,” he said.

“Maybe I can run into some more pants that might be a little more suitable for the tour. I’d like to bring out some camouflage. If they let me do that, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings at all.”

*

Family math: According to Bud Geracie of the San Jose Mercury News, Mark McGwire, 38, “added the age of his son, 14, to the age of his girlfriend, 24, and knew she was the one.”

*

Trivia answer: The Dodgers’ Matt Herges, with 1,605.

*

And finally: It was time for celebration for the 35 golfers who qualified to earn a PGA Tour card after playing in a six-day tournament at West Palm Beach.

So how did Ty Tryon, the 17-year-old phenom, plan to celebrate?

“Shirley Temples,” shouted his father, Bill Tryon, when Ty was asked the question.