He Likes Any Town, If the Money’s Green

A Detroit reporter did a double take when Doyle Alexander said: “I like the guys on this team. There’s a good feeling in the clubhouse.”

Does that mean that the much-traveled pitcher, who has a reputation as a clubhouse grouch, wants to play out his career with the Tigers?

Don’t get carried away.

“I was happy in Toronto,” he said. “They had a great bunch of guys when I was with the Blue Jays. I left Toronto because they wouldn’t pay me, and when I leave Detroit, it’ll probably be for the same reason.”

Trivia Time: Twenty years ago today, when the Lakers obtained Wilt Chamberlain from Philadelphia, what three players did they send to the 76ers. (Answer below.)

St. Louis Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog calls him the best first baseman in the game, but the Montreal Expos’ Andres Galarraga remains unaffected by the accolades suddenly coming his way.

Said Richard Justice of the Washington Post: “He’s a big playful kid with a constant smile, a kid so unassuming that he only recently stopped taking public transportation to home games and who felt compelled to give a Montreal Gazette reporter $20 because he was late with a subscription payment.”

Philip Niekro, who died Saturday at 75, once said of sons Phil and Joe, whom he taught the knuckleball: “I’m proud of them and happy they don’t have to work for a living.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: According to the New York Post, Billy Martin’s fate was sealed in Cleveland, George Steinbrenner’s hometown, when the Yankee coaches did not come to the top of the dugout for the national anthem before a game.

The Post said Steinbrenner told Martin he was embarrassed and that Martin said after their conversation: “I just know I’m gone. You can’t embarrass George in Cleveland. That’s bad. I’m gone.”

Add Steinbrenner: Wrote Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post: “Some say George Steinbrenner’s limo has a bumper sticker that reads: ‘When All Else Fails, Lower Your Standards.’ ”

When the Atlanta Braves’ Dale Murphy, batting .223 at the time, was told he had been voted “Mr. Nice Guy” in an NBC poll, he said, “Who voted, National League pitchers?”

From Hall of Fame golfer Ben Hogan: “Some players today play two or three tournaments, get tired, and then take a couple of weeks off. I couldn’t wait to get to the next tournament. If they’re tired, they should go to bed early.”

Trivia Answer: Darrall Imhoff, Archie Clark and Jerry Chambers, plus an undisclosed amount of cash.

Quotebook

Former heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson, on promoter Don King’s overtures to Mike Tyson’s wife and mother-in-law: “It seems to me Don King is looking for the key to the vault, but hopefully it has a combination lock.”