It’s Never Too Late to Learn Something

One of this week’s two Nobel Prize winners for physiology or medicine, Linda B. Buck, is a researcher at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, named in honor of the former Detroit Tiger pitcher and major league manager who died of cancer in 1964.

Hutchinson managed the Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals, then was hired by Cincinnati Red General Manager Frank Lane in 1959. Lane once said what impressed him about Hutchinson was his work ethic.

“When I was general manager of the White Sox and Hutch was at Detroit, I went looking for him in Chicago one night to talk about something,” Lane said. “I found him in a hotel room with several players, explaining the cutoff play. He was the first manager I ever knew who believed in night school.”

Trivia time: In his 12 seasons as a manager, Hutchinson went to the World Series once. What year and with what team?

Advance planning: So how much optimism is there in Miami over Shaquille O’Neal?

“I don’t want to say Shaq makes Heat expectations high,” wrote Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, “but the city has already begun to cordon off a parade route along Biscayne Boulevard.”

Name game: With University of Miami quarterback Brock Berlin having lost his best blocker, left tackle Eric Winston, to injury, Cote wonders, “Does this mean the Berlin wall is crumbling?”

Add name game: First former All-Big 12 football center Richie Incognito was kicked off the Nebraska team. Tuesday came word he was released by Oregon.

So where is Incognito now? Probably incognito.

A different game: Reader Maxx Wolfson suggests that since King announcer Bob Miller now has some time on his hands maybe he could call some basketball games.

“Imagine getting ‘He shoots, he scores!’ 100 times a game,” Wolfson says. “That would be fantastic.”

Different perspectives: Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Star says the NHL lockout is being viewed a lot more seriously by the media in Canada.

“In the United States,” Brunt wrote, “it’s nothing more than an excuse to ridicule the game.”

While he’s at it: Dennis Rodman, still talking about a comeback, worked out with the Denver Nuggets recently before bowing out. He said he had to go to a hospital and get an ingrown toenail removed, the Denver Post reported.

He didn’t mention anything about removing any ingrown tattoos.

Looking back: On this day in 1984, the Chicago Cubs, who had won the first two games of a best-of-five playoff, were eliminated after losing their third in a row to the San Diego Padres, 6-3.

Trivia answer: In 1961 with the Reds, who lost to the New York Yankees, 4 games to 1.

And finally: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times asks, “Does Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s dental plan cover restrictor plates?”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.