Name May Be the Same, Not the Numbers

Cincinnati Manager Lou Piniella likes to needle 40-year-old Ken Griffey by saying, “We’ve got the wrong Ken Griffey.”

The other one, of course, is 20-year-old Ken Griffey Jr. of Seattle. He came into the league last year when his dad was playing for the New York Yankees.

“When I was with the Yankees,” Piniella said, “George Steinbrenner used to yell at us in meetings because we had Jose Canseco’s brother in the minors and Joe Carter’s brother.

“He used to say, ‘You guys always get the wrong brother. From now on when you’re ready to sign someone, go with his brother instead.’ Now, I’ve got the father, and the son is a star.’ ”

Cutups: From Chicago Bears’ defensive tackle Dan Hampton, who has undergone knee surgery 10 times: “I don’t want to confuse anybody with all these scars. I’ve got color-coded stitches so the autopsy will be a lot easier for everybody.”

E.J. Holub, former center and linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, underwent knee surgery 12 times.

He said, “My knees look like they lost a knife fight to a midget.”

Trivia time: Randy Johnson of Seattle is the third pitcher from USC to pitch a no-hitter in the majors. Name the other two.

Add trivia: Davey Johnson, deposed manager of the New York Mets, is the answer to a number of trivia questions, including these:

--He’s the only man to hit behind baseball’s two most prolific home run hitters, Henry Aaron and Sadaharu Oh. He batted behind Aaron for the Atlanta Braves and behind Oh in Japan.

--In Baltimore’s sweep of the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, he got the last hit Sandy Koufax gave up in his career.

--In the 1969 World Series, he made the last out for Baltimore as the Miracle Mets beat the Orioles in five games.

Dirty work: Said Philadelphia Phillies’ clubhouse attendant Frank Coppenbarger when the club had some new dirt delivered: “All of the old dirt was on Lenny Dykstra’s uniform.”

Expert’s view: Said retired racetrack announcer Fred Caposella when asked the best horse he ever saw: “I saw 80,000 races and a lot of champions. But the one who impressed me the most was a horse called Count Fleet. The way he could humble his opposition impressed me so much. It didn’t matter if it was a fast track, a slow track, a muddy track, six furlongs, a mile and a quarter, he was the best.”

Count Fleet won the triple crown in 1943.

Turn it up: From Bob Finnigan of the Seattle Times: “On the advice of psychologist Andrew Jacobs, the Kansas City Royals do their pregame stretching in their dressing room, while soft, soothing music is played. It sounds as though heavy metal is called for.”

Trivia answer: Tom Seaver and Steve Busby (twice).

Quotebook: Rocky Graziano, who became a millionaire doing TV commercials and working on the Martha Raye show: “I never fluffed a line.”