Yankees Quickly Fade to List Place

David Letterman’s Top Ten List on Tuesday night was “New York Yankee Excuses.” They included:

* No. 6: Didn’t know if they were playing the California Angels, Anaheim Angels or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

* No. 4: How are you supposed to field a competitive team on $200 million?

* No. 3: Due to a typo in latest memo, Steinbrenner demanded players give 10%.

* No. 1: Who can concentrate on baseball when hockey is back?

Another hit: And from Jay Leno’s monologue Tuesday night: “Huge wildfire broke out last night in Orange County -- 25 people were choking. No, I’m sorry. That was the New York Yankees.”

Trivia time: When Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates, leading off the bottom of the ninth, hit his game-winning home run against the Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, who was on deck?

Then again, maybe not: On the day the Angels eliminated the Yankees in Game 5, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post, under the headline “Re-signing Hideki is a must-sui,” wrote: “The Yankees have to secure Hideki Matsui’s name to a contract extension as soon as the law allows.”

That night, the free-agent outfielder went 0 for 5 and made the game’s last out with two runners on.

Could be a trend: Reader Mark Backstrom points out that the last four teams to end the Yankees’ postseason -- the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, the 2002 Angels, the 2003 Florida Marlins and the 2004 Boston Red Sox -- all wound up winning the World Series.

Boxing doubleheader: It has been established in this space that college football doubleheaders were not that unusual in the old days.

What was unusual was a boxing doubleheader in 1942 involving amateur Lou Filippo, who at the time was attending Fremont High. According to former boxing promoter Don Fraser, Filippo fought two fights at two sites in one night.

Fraser says Filippo, who will be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on Nov. 19, scored a knockout in his first match at the Southwest Arena at 53rd and Western. Then, while still wearing his boxing shorts, he was rushed to an arena on Main Street near 98th, where he scored another knockout in the main event.

Looking back: On this day in 2001, DeShaun Foster of UCLA ran for a school-record 301 yards and scored four touchdowns as the Bruins defeated Washington, 35-13. Maurice Drew broke that record last year with 322 yards and five touchdowns against Washington.

Trivia answer: Dick Stuart.

And finally: Reggie Jackson, in an interview he taped for Sunday’s edition of FSN’s “CMI: Chris Myers Interview,” said this about his role with the Yankees: “My title is advisor to the managing general partner and owner, which means I don’t do much advising or give much input to our boss.”

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