MacPhail a Tough Act to Follow

Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post says that Lee MacPhail, former American League president, holds three league records that may never be broken.

“He has visited at least two art museums in every major league city,” Boswell writes. “He has been to the symphony in all of them, too. And while on airplanes between those towns, he has read at least one biography of every American president, two on most.”

These would figure to be lonely pursuits, but you never know. Once, during an all-star tour of Japan, MacPhail got wind of a Rubens exhibit. “Bet we won’t see any ballplayers here,” MacPhail joked to a friend.

Boswell wrote: “The next thing MacPhail knew, 6-5, 240-pound Jim Bibby of the Pittsburgh Pirates was tapping him on the shoulder to exchange notes on the use of chiaroscuro.”

The University of Alabama has an outfielder named Ted Williams, but he’s hardly out of the mold of the Splendid Splinter.

In the Crimson Tide’s 9-6 conquest of Samford Wednesday, Williams tied a school record by stealing five bases, including three in one inning and one of those of home.

That would have been a season of stolen bases for Ted Williams, the Hall of Famer. In 19 years with the Boston Red Sox, the most steals he had in a season were four.

Trivia Time: Who were the Anaheim Amigos? (Answer below.)

Larry Holmes, claiming he’s fighting again strictly for pride, told Wallace Matthews of Newsday: “I still got the bank account. You can have the title and not the bank account. Pinklon Thomas, Tony Tubbs, they ain’t got $100,000 in the bank. They can have their titles.

“I made $8 million last year. I paid myself $5,320,844.08. Every 15th of the month, I get a check for $52,392 tax-free interest on just some of my things. Money isn’t everything, but a lot of people think it is.”

Wonder who?

Publicity release: “Billy Martin, former manager of the New York Yankees, has been signed to make his feature film debut as an inebriated bar customer who gets into a brawl, in the movie ‘Candyland,’ which will roll in June under producer Robert Schnitzer of Hollywood.”

Martin couldn’t be reached for comment. Reportedly, he was rehearsing.

From NFL broadcasting director Val Pinchbeck, announcing that China Central Television will show a Super Bowl replay Sunday: “No one can any longer say one billion Chinese don’t care.”

Lefty Driesell hasn’t given up yet, even though 6-10 J.R. Reid of Virginia Beach, Va., has announced that he’s going to North Carolina.

Recalling that 6-11 Tom McMillen of Mansfield, Pa., switched to Maryland at the last minute in 1970 after declaring for North Carolina, Driesell said: “I’ll have to say my prayers every night.”

Trivia Answer: They were an original team in the American Basketball Assn. in 1967-68. Players included 7-footer Larry Bunce of Utah State, Bob Bedell of Stanford, Steve Chubin of Rhode Island, Ben Warley of Tennessee State and Les Selvage of Kirksville State, now Northeast Missouri State.

The team folded after a season and became the Los Angeles Stars. After another season, they became the Utah Stars and won the ABA title. Bill Sharman was the coach.

Selvage, in a game against Denver in 1968, made 10 of 26 attempts at three-point baskets, setting an ABA record that never was broken. The three-point line was at 25 feet.

Quotebook

Left wing Gilles Hamel of the Buffalo Sabres, on the difficulty of breaking out of a scoring slump: “It’s like when you open a new jar of pickles. It’s hard to get the first one out.”