All Talk--and Bad Pitches

In his new book, “Historical Baseball Abstract,” Bill James tells about a pitcher from a small town in Michigan who wrote a letter to Detroit manager Hughie Jennings in 1916, claiming he could strike out Ty Cobb anytime on three pitches.

James: “The guy said it would only cost $1.80--train fare to Detroit--for Jennings to find out. Hughie figured well, you never know, and sent the dollar eighty. The pitcher showed up--great big, gangly kid, 6-foot-4, and all joints. They let him warm up and called out Cobb.

“Cobb hit his first pitch against the right-field wall. His second pitch went over the right-field wall. The third pitch went over the center-field wall. Cobb was thinking they ought to keep this guy around to help him get in a groove.

“ ‘Well,’ said Jennings. ‘What have you got to say?’ ”

“The pitcher stared in hard at the batter’s box. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I don’t believe that’s Ty Cobb in there.’ ”

Trivia Time: Who is the only manager in history to win 700 games in both the American League and the National League? (Answer below.)

Idle Thought: If the Raiders decided to give Jim Plunkett another year, they could start an All-Heisman Trophy backfield of Plunkett at quarterback, Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson at running backs and Tim Brown at flanker.

From New York Jets personnel director Mike Hickey, telling Steve Jacobson of Newsday that he would disqualify a prospect on the absence of character: “You can modify behavior, but you can’t change basic character. Little leopards become big leopards.”

Add Hickey: Revealing Saturday that he would pass on Craig (Ironhead) Heyward, whom he has followed since his Passaic High School days in New Jersey, he said: “He has all these problems and he goes to Pitt and has more problems and he gets one coach who reaches him and gets Ironhead to stay out of trouble and go to class. Then all of a sudden he’s starting to behave as a student-athlete. He’s not breaking the law, not beating up people with his crutches.

“Then what’s he do? He doesn’t bite the hand that feeds him; he eats it. Now he wants to be eligible for the draft. He’s in it for himself.”

Add Jets: From No. 1 choice Dave Cadigan of USC, saying he hopes to erase the surfer image of athletes from Newport Beach: “We have a lot of flaky people in Newport. Crybabies. When I got to SC I got some of that. . . . I used it as a motivator. It probably helped me. I’m definitely no surfer. I have a board and I like to go out once in a while, but I’m just too big and heavy.”

Trivia Answer: Sparky Anderson.

Quotebook

Peter May of the Hartford Courant, on Pat Riley never being named coach of the year: “He’s the Steven Spielberg of the NBA.”

FO Ty Cobb