This Kid Can’t Get to the Show Until They Find Him a Shoe

There are two things standing in the way of Gregory Ridgeway’s playing Senior Little League in Hayward, Calif., according to Associated Press--his size 17 feet.

Baseball spikes only go up to size 16 and Ridgeway, 14, hasn’t been able to find a shoe that fits.

Ridgeway, who is 6 feet 5, could play in sneakers, but he says they aren’t as safe as the special baseball footwear.

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Add feet: “Size 17? That’s the biggest I’ve ever heard of,” said Mark Acre, a 6-8 pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, who wears size 13.

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Trivia time: Who was the MVP of the 1994 National Invitation Tournament?

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Frustration: Lyle Spencer of the Riverside Press-Enterprise on the athleticism of Laker center Vlade Divac:

“You hear the exasperating court-side voices all the time at the Forum: ‘Jump, Vlade!’ Divac resists the temptation to spin around and reply, ‘I am jumping, look closer.’ ”

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Reason enough: ESPN’S Dick Vitale asked Texas Christian basketball Coach Billy Tubbs why he had lost a player to Utah.

Said Tubbs, “We were over the salary cap.”

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Big bust: Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson ridiculed the selection of six Big Ten teams to the NCAA tournament. Five were eliminated in the first round and Purdue went out in the second.

“The Big Ten is a competitive conference, but no more competitive than any other conference today,” Richardson said.

“But you say ‘Big Ten’ and all of a sudden you’ve got a hell of a basketball player. You get guys like Motor Mouth (Vitale) saying, ‘Wow, Big Ten, baby!’ and everybody listens to that crap.”

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No kidding: Another Ralph Kinerism as reported by Caught on the Fly in The Sporting News: “It’s caught out in center field by the center fielder.”

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Snooze time: Nick Faldo, on the differing lifestyles of England and Florida:

“At home, we’ve got decent bread and decent cars, decent roads to drive on. We’ve got roads with curves in them.

“That’s amazing. You actually have to move the steering wheel. Not like here, where you just point it and just fall asleep for two hours and then you’re there.”

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Fall guy: Michael Katz of the New York Daily News, after watching Riddick Bowe pound Herbie Hide:

“Hide fell every which way--on his back, on his face, on his sides. He calls himself the ‘Dancing Destroyer,’ but from the time he spent on the canvas, he must be a break dancer.”

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Can she hit? Pete Rose moved his family to Los Angeles so his 5-year-old daughter, Cara, can try to start an acting career.

“She just can memorize things and she can cry on command,” Rose said. “She likes it. She’s a ham. “All I can tell you about her is she’s got my work ethic. She loves to work.”

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Trivia answer: Doremus Bennerman of Siena College.

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Quotebook: Joe Falls in the Detroit News: “The reason ballplayers chew tobacco is to sweeten their breath.”