They’re Singing Our Song, Every Day

It’s a song that can’t be sung, but tradition says you open with the “Star Spangled Banner,” so the agony goes on.

Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, told TV Guide that the team received about 600 application tapes a year from people wanting to perform the national anthem.

“Our anthem singers run the full range--Sinatra one night, an air conditioner repairman the next,” Claire said.

Tom Seeberg, Angel vice president, said the club chooses from among 100 applications a year and rewards those chosen with four free tickets and a parking pass.

If they failed to show, for years the Angels called in relief singer Ed Hoffman, an usher.

“Ed was an ace who could come in cold,” Seeberg said.

Hoffman has retired, so now the Angels use a recording.

Barry Stockhamer, promotion director for the Dodgers, said: “Our applications aren’t always the most conventional. There was one guy who called himself a one-man band. He did the national anthem playing nine instruments at once.”

The Dodgers passed.

How wealthy is Pete Rose? Even he probably doesn’t know, but he told Time magazine: “Remember how I used to say I wanted to be the first $100,000 singles hitter? This year I paid over $100,000 in state taxes.”

Ouch: Syndicated columnist Mike Royko, a devoted Cubs fan, had this to say about the new book by Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets: “The fact is, I have found this to be a useful book. I’m have been tearing out the pages and crumbling them into little wads. When I have about 30 or 40 wads, I put them in my fireplace under the kindling and light them. They are excellent for getting a fire started. Then I pour myself a drink, lower the lights, sit back and stare at the crackling flames. And I pretend I am looking at Shea Stadium.”

Trivia Time: Babe Ruth broke the record for most home runs in a season four times. In what stadium did he break it the most? (Answer below.)

Add Trivia: Ray Kring, head track coach at Hancock College, asks this one: “What do Ernie Zampese and John Madden have in common?”

A. “They both got their start as a head coach at Allan Hancock College.”

Zampese now is an assistant to John Robinson who used to be an assistant to Madden with the Oakland Raiders.

Mike Ditka is counting on Jim McMahon as his No. 1 quarterback again in Chicago, but he hasn’t given up on Doug Flutie.

“He’s a legitimate quarterback, although we’d like to see him a little bigger,” Ditka said. “We’ve had him on the stretching machine for three months and he’s 6-7 now.”

Wait a Minute: Said San Francisco Manager Roger Craig of Jeff Leonard, Chili Davis and Candy Maldonado: “I think our strong suit is our outfield, which I’ll match up against any in the game, man-for-man.”

That should be good for a laugh in Toronto. Last year, George Bell, Jesse Barfield and Lloyd Moseby of the Blue Jays averaged 100 runs scored and 100 runs batted in.

Trivia Answer: Polo Grounds. With the Boston Red Sox, he hit 29 in 1919 at Fenway Park. With the New York Yankees, he hit 54 in 1920 and 59 in 1921 at the Polo Grounds and 60 in 1927 at Yankee Stadium.

Quotebook

Nevada Las Vegas Coach Jerry Tarkanian, on cold-shooting forward Gerald Paddio: “He’s due to go 10 for 10 any game now. I just hope it’s not in the summer league.”