"Lazzari's Sports Roundup" ---- 08-19-06

Sports editor Bill Pucci gave a major "thumbs up" to Steve Reilly's soon-to-be-published book The Fat Lady Never Sings in last week's Valley Times; I'll follow suit in praising a fine piece of work. It chronicles the 1992 Derby (CT) High School state championship baseball season--one that saw various multi-sport athletes atone for a disappointing football season the previous fall. Reilly truly conveys the significance of sports in Connecticut's smallest town--a blue-collar community where a closely knit group of youngsters overcomes adversity to capture championship glory. Combining laughter, sadness, and exhilaration, it's a terrific read for both the everyday sports fan and those interested in the power of perseverance.......
TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the last member of the N.Y. Yankees to hit 10 or more triples in a season?..........ITEM: Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca cheats on his wife--an ex-Playboy model. Listen, folks--if I'm a ballplayer with a lovely model for a wife, I do the following: kiss her feet and rub her back ten times daily, totally eliminate the word "cheat" from my vocabulary, and have a teammate hit me over the head with a bat should I even THINK about looking at another woman..........A mental evaluation has been ordered for former Ohio State dropout/RB Maurice Clarett after he was found to have four loaded guns in his SUV; he also held up two people outside a bar on New Year's Day. Question: Shouldn't there have been an evaluation of the people responsible for Clarett being accepted to OSU in the FIRST PLACE?..........He's destined to fail--and it will be a shame when (and not "if") K.C. Royals manager Buddy Bell is fired due to an awful win/loss record. Here is a guy managing a group of relative unknowns with absolutely NO payroll to back him up. Still, the team plays hard for Bell--despite their obvious shortcomings. If I'm a big-league GM looking for a field boss, Buddy Bell is definitely on my short list of candidates..........This week in sports history, August 21, 1985: At a track meet in Zurich, American Mary Decker-Slaney sets a world record in the women's mile--finishing in a time of 4 minutes, 16.71 seconds. The previous world record-holder, Romanian Maricica Puica, finished second to Decker-Slaney in this race; ironically, Puica--as the runner-up--ran faster (4:17.33) than she had when she set the record two years earlier (4:17.44)..........ITEM: There's a new series of tapes on the Internet of O.J. Simpson "painting the town" in various places between 2001 and 2005--all aimed at "rehabbing his image." At this juncture, that would be more difficult to accomplish than listening to three hours of non-stop Sinead O'Connor music........
Can you imagine if WNBA player Betty Lennox married former track star Carl Lewis, divorced, married Coast Guard football coach Bill George--divorced again--then married former NFL RB Chuck Foreman? Fans of the heavyweight ranks would surely delight in her full name of Betty Lennox Lewis George Foreman..........It's been reported that former NBA All-Star Kenny Anderson has fathered seven children by at least four different women and is behind in child-support payments--even though he earned approximately $60 million during his 14-year career. Wow, kinda out of character for a league that has produced so many "choir boy"-type individuals over the last decade, huh?........
Answer to trivia question: JERRY MUMPHREY--who hit 10 triples for the fifth-place Yankees in 1982..........Happy birthday wishes go out to former big league infielder Felix Millan--who blows out 63 candles on August 21st. A native of Puerto Rico, Millan played 12 seasons between 1966 and 1977 for the Braves and Mets--hitting .279 lifetime. A three-time All-Star, Felix' best year came in 1970 with Atlanta when he hit .310, scored 100 runs, and stole 16 bases. Millan also won Gold Glove Awards in 1969 and 1972; best wishes, Felix....
.......Finally, condolences go out to the family of former major league pitcher Elden Auker--who died recently in Vero Beach, FL, at the age of 95. Auker pitched ten seasons in the American League between 1933 and 1942 for the Tigers, Red Sox, and Browns--amassing a lifetime record of 130-101. As a rookie submarine-style pitcher, Auker fanned the great Babe Ruth on four pitches. He led the AL in winning-percentage in 1935 with a record of 18-7--a year in which he also helped the Tigers to a world championship. Rest in peace, Mr. Auker.

Bob Lazzari

Reprinted by permission of the Valley Times.