Orioles’ Losing Streak Brings Back Memories

Baltimore General Manager Roland Hemond, in the midst of the Orioles’ losing streak, recalled a similar streak when he was working in the front office of the Angels.

“We were on our way home and we stopped to play our double-A team in El Paso,” Hemond told the Boston Globe. “We’d just signed Marty Pattin, but he’d had some problems in El Paso and wanted to quit. Chuck Tanner was our manager at El Paso, so I told him to pitch Pattin to make him feel better.

“Well, Pattin started shutting down the Angels, and finally I had to ask Chuck to get him out of the game because our general manager, Fred Haney, wanted the Angels to win one game before they got home.”

From Chicago Coach Mike Ditka, sounding positively giddy after the Bears landed Stanford running back Brad Muster, LSU receiver Wendell Davis and Oklahoma linebacker Dante Jones with their first three picks: “People say you can’t duplicate ’85. Well, you can’t duplicate ’85. But what if we get better than ‘85? What if we have more fun? What if William Perry leads the league in scoring? I don’t want to think negatively.”

Trivia Time: The Boston Celtics never had a National Basketball Assn. scoring champion, but four players who won titles later played with the Celtics. How many can you name? (Answer below.)

Has Tom Lasorda been taking grammar lessons from Sparky Anderson? The Associated Press quoted the Dodger manager as saying in St. Louis Friday night, “When you get 10 runs with Fernando pitching, it don’t make no difference who’s pitching for the other team.”

From the Boston Globe: “Tree Rollins of the Atlanta Hawks had one assist for every 88.3 minutes he was on the floor this season. Kevin Willis had one assist for every 74.7 minutes he played.”

The item was headed: “They’ll pass the potatoes; they’ll praise the Lord and pass the ammunition; but the basketball is another matter.”

Note: When Wilt Chamberlain scored his 100 points, he still found time to pass off for two assists.

Add Globe: Under the heading, “Truth in advertising,” was this item: “The official theme of the Atlanta Braves’ season is ‘One Crazy Summer.’ A 1986 movie with the same title was reviewed this way in a video guide: ‘Weird, slightly sick, sometimes stupidly funny comedy.’ ”

22 Years Ago Today: On May 8, 1966, Frank Robinson became the only player to hit a home run out of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The drive, off Cleveland’s Luis Tiant, cleared the left-field wall and carried 541 feet. The Orioles won, 8-3.

If baseball announcers are paid by the club, can they be told what to say?

You might not think so, but Norman Chad of the Washington Post said former Senator announcer Shelby Whitfield admitted he was under the gun in his book, ‘Kiss It Goodbye.’

Chad: “Whitfield said that owner Bob Short insisted his announcers give favorable weather forecasts for upcoming games ‘even if the floodwaters were lapping the sides of RFK Stadium’ and broadcast that ‘fans are still filing into the stands’ up until the fourth inning to encourage late arrivals.”

Trivia Answer: Dave Bing, Pete Maravich, Bob McAdoo, Nate Archibald.

Quotebook

Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls, on not lifting weights, jogging or exercising while partaking of junk food: “If I had an exercise video, it would consist of driving through the McDonald’s drive-through and then to the golf course.”