He Will Have to Turn Over a New Leaf

Major league baseball has its pine tar controversy. South Korea, it seems, has a cabbage controversy.

Park Myung-hwan of the Doosan Bears has been placing icy leaves beneath his cap since last season because they offer relief against the brutal summer heat. But during a recent game the cap blew off and out flew the soggy evidence.

Now the practice has been banned by officials who said, in essence, that there’s no cooling off in baseball. Park said he’d abide by the ruling, but it was clear that he was hot under the collar.

Trivia time: On this date in 1955, Harmon Killebrew of the Washington Senators slugged his first of 573 major league home runs. Who was the opposing team and pitcher?

Tired Gator: The Gainesville Sun reports that in his first month as Florida’s football coach, Urban Meyer spent 14 nights away, visiting 99 high schools in 10 states. He logged 36 flights, 14,615 air miles and 12 hotel stays.

Moreover, he rode in 33 cars while traveling 2,445 miles. He gave 55 interviews, attended 10 Gator Club functions and signed 3,000 autographs. He then found time to visit two coaching clinics and two NFL camps. Meyer probably can’t wait to get the season started -- so he can relax.

Apples and oranges: The Lakers’ re-hiring of Phil Jackson was big news in Yuma, Ariz. Or, rather, it was the way The Times covered the story that earned mention in the Yuma Sun sports pages.

“Twelve stories on the hiring of an NBA coach?” wrote Sun columnist Rich Polikoff. “One would imagine The Times didn’t make quite this big a deal when the Clippers brought in Mike Dunleavy.”

Correct. That event, in July 2003, was covered with two stories.

To die for: In London, fans of the Reading soccer club are resting more easily about the hereafter knowing that a local funeral director has begun offering coffins inlaid with blue-and-white team colors and adorned with the team crest.

Pastor Barry Kirk told the Reading Evening Post: “More people have wanted their last wishes to be honored by having a ceremony at the football club or to have their ashes scattered around here. And to have an official Reading coffin to be cremated in, well, I can imagine a lot of fans will say, Yes, please.’ ”

This concept seems ideal for crazed fans of American football too, perhaps most notably those of the Raider Nation. Their chant to the infirm: “Just die, baby!”

Trivia answer: The Detroit Tigers and Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C., but the Tigers still prevailed, 7-6.

And finally: Pro angler Aaron Martens, one of the favorites in the upcoming Bassmasters Classic, is too seasoned to experience butterflies. But moths are a different story. Said his mother, Carol Martens, to Inside BASS:

“He was always into nature anywhere he went. He went to a party and came up and said hello to everybody. When he did, about five moths flew out of his mouth. He used to put stuff in his mouth and go freak everybody out.”

Including the moths.