He'd Really Have to Motor to Get Cycle

He’d Really Have to Motor to Get Cycle

By SHAV GLICK

July 4, 1996 12 AM PT

Former Dodger catcher Darrin Fletcher, the slowest Montreal Expo and maybe the slowest runner in the National League, needed a triple going into his last at-bat for the cycle against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I thought about it in the on-deck circle, but then I thought, ‘What would happen if I hit one?’ ” he said. “I mean, Ty Cobb would have turned over in his grave until he was upside down.

“For me to get a triple, an outfielder would have to fall down, break an ankle or pull a muscle. It was out of respect for Cobb that I didn’t do it.”

Trivia time: Who was the last Angel to lead the major leagues in home runs?

Olympic siblings: Lou Gehrig’s sister, Adeline, was a member of the U.S. fencing team in the 1924 Olympics, and Jackie Robinson’s brother, Mack, was runner-up to Jesse Owens in the 200 meters in the 1936 Olympics at Berlin.

Pass it around: Matthew McCarty doesn’t play in the NHL, but he will have the Stanley Cup in his possession for four hours one day next month.

McCarty, 20, plans to have a party at his home in Littleton, Colo., to show off the 103-year-old silver trophy, which he won for four hours in a contest among Colorado Avalanche fans.

Happy warrior: When Luciano Giovannetti of Italy won the trap-shooting gold medal in the 1980 Olympics, he celebrated by throwing his cap in the air and shooting a hole in it.

Long, long time: If the Dodgers’ Mike Piazza continues to lead the National League in batting, he will become the first catcher to accomplish the feat since Ernie Lombardi of the Boston Braves in 1942.

What else? Jack Nicholson was playing a round of golf at the Old Course at St. Andrews, helping Michael Douglas celebrate his 50th birthday, when he asked his caddie, “Tell me, what does a Scotsman have with his Scotch?”

“Another one,” the caddie responded.

O Canada! To help herald Canada Day on Monday, Toronto Manager Cito Gaston conducted the Blue Jays in a video rendition of “This Land is My Land” at the SkyDome. The clip featured players mouthing the words while dressed in period costumes with the backdrop showing famous Canadian landmarks.

11th commandment: Fly, in the Sporting News, tells of a former Texas Tech recruit who said Red Raider assistants helped him through a correspondence course in the Old Testament at a Bible college.

Fly’s reaction: “Thou shalt not cheat.”

Trivia answer: Reggie Jackson, with 39 in 1982, tied with Gorman Thomas of Milwaukee.

And finally: New York Yankee outfielder Bernie Williams plays classical guitar, and when asked whom he would most like to meet if he could go back in time, he said he couldn’t decide between Babe Ruth and Mozart.

“They were interesting men,” he told Phil Collier of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “They both liked to party.”