Baseball May Revisit This Dirty Laundry

News flash! Major League Baseball came to its senses and did something reasonable this week.

Howard Smith, MLB’s senior vice president for merchandising, said the idea of outfitting players in generic National League and American League uniforms for the All-Star game on July 15 has been ditched.

But he wasn’t totally dismissing the idea -- apparently MLB still believes the softball beer-league look is great inspiration -- and said the plan could be revisited for the 2004 All-Star game in Houston.

He also insisted the idea wasn’t quashed because of the vocal opposition of a number of prominent players, such as Ranger shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who told the Dallas Morning News, “It’s a terrible idea. We should be promoting the cities we’re from and the uniforms we wear. That’s been a tradition of the game.”

Trivia time: Which pitcher holds the record for most consecutive victories against one opponent, 24, over the St. Louis Cardinals?

Not forgotten: Legendary sportswriter Leonard Koppett, a member of both the baseball and basketball halls of fame, died this week at 79. Koppett was one of the first writers to break down statistics in novel ways and the old-timers in press boxes didn’t always appreciate his analyses.

Koppett liked to tell the story about the time he walked into a New York press box with a large briefcase and Jimmy Cannon asked, “What do you have in there, Lenny, decimal points?”

Coincidence? Mike Weir won the Masters. Jim Furyk won the U.S. Open. And if you’re looking for the winner of the next major, the British Open July 17-20 at Royal St. George’s, then put your money on Andrew Coltart.

OK, he has never won a major, but then neither had Weir and Furyk until this year. And sure, he’s 40th on the European money list and has won only twice on the European Tour.

But he has something going for him: He was born on May 12, 1970.

Same day as Weir and Furyk.

Hands off: Good will goes only so far at the Confederations Cup, where FIFA, soccer’s governing body, is trying to take a stand against racism by asking players to shake hands after games.

“I can’t be forced to shake the opponents’ hands,” French captain Marcel Desailly said. “If I have to shake 23 people’s hands, we’ll never see the end of it.”

U.S. Coach Bruce Arena also thinks it’s a bad idea.

“It’s going a bit overboard to require it after a game,” he said. “That’s something people in suits think is important. Sometimes it’s best that opponents are separated.”

Now to figure out how to keep the fans apart.

Tough crowd: Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” was at a recent Yankee game when a woman sitting behind him reached out and snagged a pop foul. According to the New York Daily News, a nearby fan yelled, “C’mon, Wallace. Morley Safer makes that catch!”

Trivia answer: Christy Mathewson.

And finally: Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs on Coach Gregg Popovich’s matter-of-fact style: “It says a lot about the man. He’s not a guy who’s all about fashion. Or show. Especially fashion.”