Getting His Points, but Not the Headlines

With the recent passing of Laker great Rudy LaRusso, David Kohler, president of Sports Cards Plus, was reminded of a story LaRusso relayed to him when he visited Kohler’s “Laker Shrine” in southern Orange County.

“Rudy told me that in the mid-1960s the Lakers had a game and [Elgin] Baylor was on a two-week military leave,” Kohler said. “He knew he would get more scoring opportunities pairing up with Jerry West. Sure enough, they beat a team badly that night with Jerry West scoring 43 points and Rudy LaRusso scoring 40 points.

“Rudy said he went out to get the L.A. Times the next morning on his driveway and opened it to the Sports page: WEST SCORES 43 POINTS -- LAKERS WIN. He said that he wasn’t mentioned in the column whatsoever. Only in the box score.

“As he said, it was West and Baylor’s team.”

Trivia time: At what course were the first 12 British Opens played?

It makes sense: Ringside Promotions by Sycuan, a boxing promoter based out of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation near El Cajon, has proposed a four-man tournament to unify the 122-pound world title.

World Boxing Organization champion Joan Guzman (21-0, 17 knockouts), International Boxing Federation champion Israel Vasquez (36-3, 26), World Boxing Council champion Oscar Larios (52-3-1, 35) and World Boxing Assn. champion Mahyar Monshipour (25-2-2, 16) have been invited to participate in the super-bantamweight slugfest.

Of course, Sycuan has a vested interest, as it already promotes Guzman and Vasquez.

Looking ahead: The Dodgers and Minnesota Twins, who played in the 1965 World Series, and the Angels and Atlanta Braves are among 14 pairings of National League and American League teams that have not faced each other in the first eight years of interleague play.

Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News reports that they are expected to be a part of next year’s schedule, along with these other matchups that have yet to take place: Colorado-Chicago White Sox, Baltimore-Cincinnati, Baltimore-Pittsburgh, Boston-Chicago Cubs, Boston-Cincinnati, Cleveland-San Francisco, New York Yankees-Pittsburgh, Oakland-New York Mets, Seattle-Florida, Tampa Bay-St. Louis, Texas-Philadelphia and Toronto-Houston.

Spelling it out: “I see where the Astros fired manager Jimy Williams during the All-Star break,” Jim Armstrong wrote in his AOL Sports column. “What, did they expect a guy who can’t spell his own name to lead them to a pennant?”

Looking back: On this date in 1958, the PGA Championship changed from match play to stroke play. Dow Finsterwald won, finishing two strokes ahead of Billy Casper.

Trivia answer: Prestwick, in Scotland.

And finally: Vince Carter did little to dispel reports that he wants out of Toronto when he spoke Monday at his youth basketball camp. Asked whether he wanted to come back to the Raptors, Carter said, “I’m not going to get into it right now. ... I have nothing to say right now, but I promise in due time.”