This Was the Day That Player Met His Match

Gary Player, claiming that anything can happen on a golf course, recalled a match against his wife, Vivienne, shortly after their marriage in South Africa.

“She was a 2-handicapper,” Player said. “She played the women’s tees and I played the back tees. I shot a 71 and lost. That’s when I decided to have six kids.”

Add Player: When he suggested that his two wins in the U.S. Senior Open be counted as majors, Jack Nicklaus said, “Oh, you know Gary. If he wins the Bangkok Four Ball, he thinks it should be counted as a major.”

Wait a Minute: NBC’s Bob Costas said that Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax are the only pitchers who have averaged more than one strikeout per inning.

Not so. Ryne Duren averaged 1.07 per inning. Ryan is next at 1.05, followed by Koufax at 1.03.

Add Costas: He said Pittsburgh’s Dave LaPoint is good for quotes, but he didn’t pass any along, so here’s one from the left-hander’s days in San Francisco: “If they keep this team together, we could finish 30 games out.”

Trivia Time: What member of the Baseball Hall of Fame got exactly 3,000 hits? (Answer below.)

Referring to him as a Dinner Bell Mel, the Sporting News reported that Mel Turpin of the Utah Jazz has ballooned to 295 pounds in the off-season.

Question: If Karl Malone of the Jazz is The Mailman, what is Turpin?

Answer: The Mealman.

Add Sporting News: In its mailbag column, it ran this letter from Wayne Combs of Avondale, Pa.: “While watching the Phillies’ ground crew cover the field during a recent rain delay, the thought occurred to me that they should cover the field with large rolls of paper, because the Phillies look great on paper but terrible on the playing field.”

How-times-have-changed dept.: On this date in 1926, Ted Lyons of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter to beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-0. Time of game: 1:07.

Add Forgettable Quotes: Said Martina Navratilova after eliminating Larissa Savchenko and Natalia Zvereva at Wimbledon: “I’m on a mission against all Russians from now on. That’s my glasnost. “

Friday at Montreal, the mission crashed. Zvereva shot her down, 6-1, 6-4.

Houston’s Bob Knepper, on the Pedro Guerrero-John Tudor swap: “It was a hell of a deal for L.A. They got a top pitcher and the Dodgers got rid of a minus. I might have released Guerrero just to get rid of him.”

Add Guerrero: According to Tim Kurkjian of the Baltimore Sun, St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog once said of the former Dodger, “He has an upper body like Charles Atlas and a lower body like Lana Turner.”

Former Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley, on A’s Manager Tony LaRussa: “I signed him out of high school. When it comes to managers, I know what I’m talking about. I had so many managers I know them like a book. Tony LaRussa, in my opinion, is one of the finest, smartest managers in baseball today. A real professional, a gentleman. You don’t see Tony LaRussa spitting on umpires or kicking dirt on them. We need more of that kind of manager.”

Trivia Answer: Roberto Clemente.

Quotebook

Jimmy Connors, on experience: “The problem is that when you get it, you’re too damned old to do anything about it.”