Donnelly’s Directory: Park in Another Area Code

Florida Marlins Coach Rich Donnelly will be one of the pitchers serving up balls in today’s All-Star game home run derby in the rarefied air of Denver’s Coors Field. His advice to fans is to park far from the ballpark.

“If I was coming to the home run contest, I’d park someplace near the outskirts of Salt Lake,” Donnelly said. “That would be safe. I wouldn’t park in the state of Colorado.”

Donnelly says he’s preparing to pitch to 6-foot-5 Mark McGwire by throwing batting practice to Marlin outfielder John Cangelosi, who is 5-8, 160 pounds, and pitcher Jesus Sanchez, 5-10, 153 pounds.

“Jesus sits on Cangelosi’s shoulders and they simulate Mark McGwire’s height. A ball at Cangy’s eyes is about belt-high to Mac.”

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Trivia time: What is the record for the fewest number of hits in a major league game?

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Want to bet? From the Chicago Tribune:

“U.S. World Cup Coach Steve Sampson resigned after his team lost all three games and scored only one goal in France.

“With any luck, this will shut up the soccer honks who are in their third decade of telling us how the sport will take over the country.”

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More on soccer: From Ron Frederick, a media analyst at J. Walter Thompson:

“We all thought that when our kids grew up, they would bring soccer with them. But the kids grew up and became football fans.”

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Looking ahead: Two months from today, the NFL will begin the regular season.

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Looking back: On this day in 1933 the first major league All-Star game was played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The American League, managed by Connie Mack, defeated the National League, managed by John McGraw, 4-2, on Babe Ruth’s two-run homer.

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Dangerous game: Cincinnati pitcher Steve Parris got a painful surprise in the Reds’ 5-4 victory over St. Louis on Saturday when the Cardinals’ Ray Lankford broke his bat on a swing. The head of the bat flew toward the mound and hit Parris on the left leg while he watched the ball land in the stands.

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One track mind: Marathon runner Khalid Knahhnouchi of Morocco has signed a two-year deal to run only the Chicago Marathon. His winning time of 2 hours 07.10 seconds was the fastest in the world last year.

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Texas talk: From Jody Meacham in the San Jose Mercury News: “Last season [Bruton] Smith opened the largest U. S. sports facility--152,000-seat Texas Motor Speedway, near Dallas.”

Perhaps Meacham has never seen Indianapolis Motor Speedway with its 350,000 seats.

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Trivia answer: One. On Sept. 9, 1965, Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers pitched a perfect game, and Bob Hendley of the Chicago Cubs gave up only a seventh-inning double to Lou Johnson. The Dodgers won, 1-0.

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And finally: Remember Francisco Cabrera, who had the memorable hit that gave the Atlanta Braves the National League pennant six years ago? He recently signed a contract with the independent minor league Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs in New York.