Her Link to Racing Comes to an End

Mandy Block has announced she is retiring from competitive sausage racing.

Block, in her final race, was in costume as an Italian sausage -- running against a bratwurst, a hot dog and a Polish sausage -- at a Milwaukee Brewer game last season when she was hit with a bat by Randall Simon of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Block fell and was run over by Veronica Chandler, who was dressed as the hot dog.

Of her retirement, Block told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “It’s too bad. It kind of ended with a bang.”

Quite an honor: Simon sent Block an autographed bat and apologized several times. When he returned to Milwaukee later in the season, as a Chicago Cub, he bought a section of fans Italian sausages.

Block accepted the apology and downplayed the incident, saying, “I’m just a sausage.”

Block received a certificate of bravery from the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council.

“I’m proud of it,” Block told the Journal Sentinel. “I didn’t even know there was a hot dog council.”

Trivia time: What is a Milwaukee brat?

Another hot dog story: Los Angeles sportscaster Randy Rosenbloom thought a hot dog-eating contest looked easy, so he gave it a try, eating-competing in qualifying for the world championships on the Fourth of July at Coney Island in New York.

Rosenbloom ate 10 dogs in 12 minutes, finishing fifth. The winner, Rich LeFevre of Henderson, Nev., ate 25 dogs in 12 minutes. LeFevre’s wife, Carlene, finished second with 20.

“I have a much greater appreciation for their extreme talents after competing against them,” Rosenbloom said.

Color schemes: Now that Syracuse has officially changed its nickname from Orangemen to simply Orange, think of the headline possibilities:

* Orange Gets Crushed

* Orange Left Red-Faced

* Orange Runs Out of Juice

* Or, if the football team wins on a well-executed last-minute drive: Clockwork Orange.

No thief: After the Minnesota Timberwolves let a big lead slip away in the final minutes Monday night, then beat the Sacramento Kings by a point in overtime, TNT’s Charles Barkley asked Kevin Garnett whether he felt as if he’d stolen one.

“I don’t believe in stealing,” Garnett said. “I haven’t stolen since the sixth grade.”

Said Barkley: “That wasn’t that long ago.”

Although Garnett has been in the NBA for nine seasons, he turns 28 a week from today.

Trivia answer: It is not the ghost of Eddie Stanky in a Brewer uniform. A brat -- pronounced “braht” -- is the short form of bratwurst, a spicy pork and beef sausage popular at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. The brat is grilled, then dipped in “secret stadium sauce” and served on a crusty roll, topped with sauerkraut and zesty brown mustard.

And finally: It was reported but never confirmed that witnesses near the Pirate dugout heard Simon say he thought the Italian sausage in that race was “a real brat.”

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