For the Right Price, You Could Be a Saint
Marc Turndorf, a 35-year-old video-game producer from Los Angeles who hasn’t played organized baseball since high school, will suit up for the minor league St. Paul (Minn.) Saints in an exhibition game Friday.
Turndorf bought his way onto the team by bidding $5,601.01 via an Internet charity auction. He beat out 72 other bidders.
Turndorf is guaranteed one plate appearance, and Manager George Tsamis indicated he might get to play the outfield.
“It should be fun,” Tsamis said.
Trivia time: Alex Rodriguez, last year’s American League MVP as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, is now playing third base for the New York Yankees. What American League player won MVP awards at two positions during the 1980s?
Out of position: During a recent triple-A game at Indianapolis between Indianapolis and Louisville, Indianapolis first baseman Jeff Liefer got locked in a dugout bathroom.
He wasn’t freed until a maintenance worker slipped him a screwdriver through a vent, allowing him to unscrew the door handle. The game was delayed 13 minutes.
“The place erupted when I came back out on the field,” Liefer said. “Everybody knew what had happened.”
Jumping Jiminy: The International Cricket Council has announced plans to expand the game to 100 countries by the end of 2005 in an attempt to globalize the sport.
“Cricket is a unique sport and the ICC aims to develop this game into a truly global sport by fostering the game in the ICC’s existing member countries, while also attracting new affiliate members,” ICC President Ehsan Mani said.
Currently, only 10 nations play at the top level. Unfortunately, to join the test level, you have to explain the rules of the game, which leaves everyone else in the world out of the running.
Wheel of misfortune: Vanna White made a recent guest appearance at Seattle’s Safeco Field. Wrote Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “It looks like the Mariners will try just about anything to turn a few more Ws.”
Hard to believe: Barry Bonds says he plans to retire after the 2005 season, whether or not he has broken Hank Aaron’s home run record.
“Right,” says Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post and AOL.com. “And I just threw away that phone number Cindy Crawford gave me.”
A feminine side: Seattle Seahawk Coach Mike Holmgren has an all-female family -- four daughters, two granddaughters, one more granddaughter on the way and two female dogs.
“I have a lot of boys around the office,” Holmgren told NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, “so it’s nice to go home to girls.”
Trivia answer: Milwaukee’s Robin Yount, as a shortstop in 1982 and an outfielder in 1989.
And finally: Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press, on the only other sports-related site that could rival NFL.com’s reported 4.9-million visitors during the two-day NFL draft: “Wilt Chamberlain’s hotel room.”
Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.