Putting the Needle to Nettles?

Graig Nettles is 41 years old, but after hitting six home runs early in the season he was feeling younger than ever. Then he faced the New York Mets.

In a game at San Diego, Kevin Mitchell of the Mets, after making it to third base on a play, said to Nettles: “My dad said to say hello.

“Who’s your dad?” Nettles asked.

“Earl Mitchell,” Mitchell said. “He played basketball with you at San Diego High.”

All of a sudden, Nettles felt very old.

Wilt Chamberlain, interviewed by WWDB-FM in Philadelphia, took this shot at Red Auerbach: “The summer before I entered the NBA, Auerbach said that Bill Russell and I were such great defensive players that neither of us would ever score 25 in a Philadelphia-Boston game. When I scored 40 and 50 so many times against Boston, Red said Russell was Mr. Defense and I was Mr. Offense. And people believed him.”

Trivia Time: He scored 33 runs in his major league career but he never got a hit. Who was he? (Answer below.)

Chi Chi Rodriguez, after taking the lead in the senior tournament at Denver last week, said he would donate his winnings to charity.

After shooting an 81 in the final round, a chagrined Rodriguez said: “Now, I don’t have enough for them to take. I feel like an elephant stepped on my money clip.”

Julius Boros became the oldest golfer to win a major tournament when he won the 1968 PGA at age 48. It was thought that Jack Nicklaus became the second oldest when he won the Masters at 46, but Golf magazine says the honor belongs to Tom Morris Sr. of Britain.

Morris was 46 years and 99 days old when he won the British Open for the fourth time. That’s 17 days older than Nicklaus.

If you didn’t remember Morris, don’t fret. The year was 1867.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, this is the riddle making the rounds in Chicago: “What do the Bears, White Sox, and Cubs have in common?”

Answer: “They all win once a week.”

When New York Yankee Manager Lou Piniella retired as a player three years ago, the story was that he couldn’t swing the bat because of a shoulder injury he had suffered in a wrestling match with the San Diego Chicken.

“Not true,” Piniella told Joe Donnelly of Newsday. “I did go after the Chicken in the Kingdome. He was bothering Ron Guidry while he was taking his warmup pitches before an inning, and I didn’t think it was right. But I couldn’t quite catch him and I wound up throwing my glove at him.

“Where the Chicken did get the shoulder was in Arizona during spring training. They were making a commercial and I had to take batting practice against the Chicken. I hadn’t swung a bat all winter, wasn’t ready for it and I hurt the shoulder that day. I’ll give the Chicken credit for this much. He threw pretty good for a chicken.”

Trivia Answer: Herb Washington of the Oakland A’s. He was a former NCAA indoor 60-yard dash champion at Michigan State who was signed by Charlie Finley as a designated base-runner. He is best remembered for the World Series in 1974, when he was picked off first base by reliever Mike Marshall of the Dodgers.

Quotebook

Writer Barney Nagler, on Cleveland: “The only difference between Cleveland and the Titanic is that the Titanic had better restaurants.”