This Wasn’t a Good Move Right Away

Now you know the rest of the story, but before he moved at age 12 from Cerritos to tiny Henryetta, Okla., Troy Aikman fancied himself a baseball player. A pitcher, of course.

“Baseball was my first love,” Aikman told the Baltimore Sun. “If I had stayed in California, I firmly believe I would have stuck with baseball. It wasn’t until my junior year of high school that I started entertaining any thoughts of playing football in college.”

In Oklahoma, he said, everybody plays football “whether they want to or not. It’s the manly thing to do.”

Those thoughts turned into reality with a year at Oklahoma, then stardom at UCLA and, ultimately, becoming the top pick in the NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys. In fact, things have worked out all around.

Aikman, who said he didn’t speak to his parents for two weeks after the move to Henryetta, has a street named after him there and has donated money to upgrade the high school facilities and endowed a scholarship for students who can’t afford to go to college.

Trivia time: Besides being former NBA greats, what do Oscar Robertson, Nate Thurmond and Julius Erving have in common?

Earth to Greg: It was the day the Walton Gang was the One Man Gang, the 1973 NCAA championship game between UCLA and Memphis State when Bill Walton scored 44 points on 21-for-22 shooting. There was no great strategy, he recalled recently, just the Bruins running the same play over and over that resulted in easy shots for their All-American center.

“Memphis State kept calling time out, trying to figure out how to stop it,” Walton said. “We’d come over to the bench, but Coach (John) Wooden wouldn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Finally, during one of the timeouts, Greg Lee, who I think was upset I was getting all the shots, said, ‘Hey, Coach, how about running another play?’ Coach Wooden said, ‘Why?’ ”

Misery loves company: The Cleveland Indians set a club record the other day when rookie third baseman Jim Thome became the 49th player to make an appearance this season.

The Tony Award: Someone went to one of the masters, Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres, and asked which hitter he respects the most.

Wade Boggs? George Brett?

Two strikes. Gwynn said recently if he could watch only one guy hit, it would be St. Louis’ Pedro Guerrero.

“Everyone is always complaining about his defense, or complaining about this or that, but you watch,” Gwynn said. “The Cardinals will probably let him go and he’ll sign as a free agent with someone else and he’ll do the same thing he always does. He’ll keep on putting up the big numbers without getting much fanfare. Dang, I love to watch him hit.”

Counterpunching: The souring of the sweet science continues. Wrote Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant after a news conference in New York to promote the upcoming Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson fight:

“There are many great sports and many great sports events, but no sport can even begin to touch the bombast and pomposity and sheer unadulterated misrepresentation of facts that are standard operating procedures whenever big-time boxing people gather.”

Not pitching in: The Detroit Tigers are 55-18 when they score five runs or more, 17-47 when they don’t.

Trivia answer: All had their jerseys retired by two teams.

Quotebook: Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, noting one of Pat Riley’s challenges as new coach of the New York Knicks for Inside Sports: “Lose the wet look. In L.A., slick hair means culture. In New York, it means your late uncle is buried under Giants Stadium.”