Dick Williams Puts Ruth in Good Company

When Dick Williams was managing the Montreal Expos, there was a game against the Philadelphia Phillies in which he ordered an intentional walk to Bake McBride with runners on second and third.

Mike Schmidt then hit a single to win the game for the Phillies.

Defending his strategy afterward, Williams said: “I don’t care if Jesus Christ was coming up, I was going to walk McBride.”

Asked a reporter: “What if Babe Ruth was coming up?”

Said Williams, after a pause: “I don’t know about Babe Ruth.”

Add Schmidt: Shrugging off a cracked rib to play in a game, he said: “It feels good unless I breathe, sneeze, cough or bend over.”

Last Add Schmidt: Peter Pascarelli of the Sporting News, noting that Schmidt’s 500th homer came in his 2,118th game, wrote: “Only Babe Ruth (1,740), Harmon Killebrew (1,955), Jimmie Foxx (1,955) and Willie Mays (1,987) reached the milestone quicker.”

Trivia Time: What was the name of Roy Hobbs’ homemade bat in “The Natural”? (Answer below.)

Bob Arum told the Chicago Tribune that his run-in with rival promoter Don King after the Leonard-Hagler fight has him wondering if maybe he should call it quits.

“After all these years, I’ve got to get away from all these crazy guys in boxing like Don King,” he said. “Here I am, a 5-9 Jewish guy with a degree from Harvard, wrestling with him. But I’m told I won on points.”

From Buddy Martin of the Denver Post: “If Bob Knight’s table-banging antics in the NCAA regionals was serious enough to warrant a $10,000 fine, how come it didn’t get him a technical foul from the refs?”

Texas pitcher Mitch Williams, on the pitch that Toronto’s Jesse Barfield hit for a home run to beat the Rangers, 3-2, Friday night: “I thought it was a pretty good pitch, and obviously so did he.”

Julius Erving was asked to pick an all-star team composed of current and former teammates.

He listed Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Moses Malone, Bobby Jones, Doug Collins and George McGinnis from the Philadelphia 76ers, George Gervin and Charlie Scott from the ABA Virginia Squires, and Pete Maravich and Lou Hudson from his short exhibition-season stay with the Atlanta Hawks.

Wonder what Charles Barkley thinks?

Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz, disclosing that all-purpose back Tim Brown would return both punts and kickoffs next season: “I hope he returns more punts than kickoffs.”

Said Denver Broncos Coach Dan Reeves after the Chicago Bears drafted Jim Harbaugh, to go along with Jim McMahon, Doug Flutie, Mike Tomczak and Steve Fuller: “They must be cornering the market on quarterbacks, the way the Hunt brothers tried to buy up all the silver.”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, on Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson: “Sparky and I were teammates in the minors one year. Sparky hit .400 for a while that season--for the first two games.”

Trivia Answer: Wonderboy.

Quotebook

Coach Larry McElreavy, on his Columbia football team which is winless in its last 34 games: “Last season, we had guys chasing guys in practice and the guy couldn’t run away from the guy chasing him and the guy chasing him couldn’t catch him either.”