Without His Voice, Stadium Not as Hip

Bob Sheppard, the New York Yankee public address announcer since 1951, missed his first home opener Tuesday after dislocating an artificial hip the night before.

Sheppard, who called the dislocation “excruciating,” was fine Tuesday but decided against attending the day game against the Kansas City Royals.

Of Sheppard, Mark Herrmann of Newsday wrote: “His voice is a huge part of what makes Yankee Stadium such a special place. ... You could say he and Yankee tradition are joined at the hip, except that became a sore spot Monday night.”

*

Trivia time: What is the origin of the name of the Dodgers’ triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas 51s?

*

The hole truth: A recent Morning Briefing item about consecutive holes in one prompted an e-mail from Robert Fulton of Murrieta, who worked for Charlie Finley as the Oakland A’s publicity and promotions director from 1972 to ’74.

Fulton said that during that time he once sneaked out of the office to play golf on a Tony Lema course in San Leandro and aced the 203-yard fifth hole. Because Finley had a strict edict that employees couldn’t play golf during office hours, Fulton couldn’t tell anybody.

He sneaked out again the next day, and had a hole in one on No. 15, a 126-yard hole. This time, Fulton couldn’t resist, and called his friend, sportswriter Dick O’Conner of the Palo Alto Times, who ran a short item in the newspaper.

Fulton said he could only hope Finley wouldn’t see it.

*

The Bus is rolling: Jerome Bettis just retired after the Super Bowl, and already he is a Hall of Famer. It was announced Tuesday that on June 28 at a fundraiser at the Las Vegas Hilton, the former Pittsburgh Steeler will become the first celebrity inductee into the Bowling Hall of Fame in St. Louis.

Bettis, who as a youngster in Detroit aspired to be a professional bowler, has bowled a 300 game and maintains an average of more than 200.

He also did a pretty good job of bowling over defenders during his 13-year NFL career.

*

Looking back: On this day in 1992, Fred Couples won the Masters by two strokes over Ray Floyd, who at 49 was attempting to become the oldest player to win a major.

*

Trivia answer: The name comes from a semi-secret government base known as “Area 51,” about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas. There have been rumors about UFO sightings and alien activities at the base. The team was the Las Vegas Stars before becoming affiliated with the Dodgers in 2001.

*

And finally: Colin Powell, who spoke at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Monday and Tuesday nights as part of the Music Center’s speaker series, said he needed a toy after stepping down as secretary of State in January 2005. So he bought himself a Corvette, and that led to Powell’s being invited to drive the pace car, a Corvette, at last year’s Indianapolis 500.

“I don’t know what else is going to be in store for me in this lifetime,” Powell said, “but I can always say I led the Indy 500.”

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