This Pitcher Would Tip His Hand Frequently

Mickey McDermott was a journeyman major league pitcher -- he had a 69-69 record in 12 seasons -- but he’s a Hall of Fame storyteller.

Now 74, he has trouble walking.

“It’s an occupational hazard,” he told Associated Press. “Falling off barstools.”

Yes, McDermott liked to tip a few -- and more than just occasionally. When he joined the Yankees, he fit right in with revelers Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin.

McDermott said Manager Casey Stengel tried to clamp down on the team’s partyers, going so far as to pay hotel clerks and bellhops to spy for him.

Sneaking in typically late one night, a tipsy McDermott was confronted by Stengel.

“Drunk again!” the manager shrieked. McDermott said he blinked back and with a silly smile replied, “Me too!”

Trivia time: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a streak that no other team in baseball can match. What is it?

Living proof: The man who is believed to be the oldest living U.S. Olympic medalist will turn 101 today -- nearly 79 years after he earned gold in the eight-oared shell with coxswain at the 1924 Games in Paris.

James S. Rockefeller, a grandson of Standard Oil founder William R. Rockefeller, said he plans to celebrate with just a few family members. His advice for longevity: “Behave yourself. And don’t get into arguments.”

That would explain why he never became a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Super story: Jim Plunkett had a record-setting career as quarterback at Stanford, capping his college career by winning the 1970 Heisman Trophy. And after the New England Patriots selected him with the first pick of the 1971 NFL draft, he figured he would pick up in the pros right where he left off.

He was wrong. He learned the hard way in his first exhibition game, when the Atlanta Falcons’ Claude Humphrey sacked him repeatedly.

“On about the seventh or eighth sack,” Plunkett recalled recently, “he bends down and helps me up and says, ‘I’ll see you next play, Jim.’ ”

Plunkett persevered, though -- and won two Super Bowls.

Hot shots: Michael Jordan’s last-second, game-winning shot at the foul line in Game 5 of a 1989 first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers has been voted as the greatest shot in NBA playoff history in voting by more than 250,000 fans on the league’s Web site.

Second: Robert Horry’s shot that beat the Sacramento Kings in Game 4 of last year’s Western Conference finals.

Trivia answer: The Devil Rays have finished last in their division in each of their five seasons in existence.

And finally: While Sammy Sosa faces a suspension because of a corked bat, the bat’s producer is enjoying a boom in business.

Jack Kasarjian, owner of Los Angeles-based Tuffbat, reports record sales since the incident.

“I really feel bad for Sammy as a client and a friend,” Kasarjian told Associated Press. “But it’s been a real interesting ride the last couple of days.”

As for the Forestville (N.Y.) lumber mill operator who actually makes the maple bats Sosa uses, he was not available.

Said Kasarjian, “Ben’s out there looking for logs right now.”