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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cheap Seats

That kind of stuff is getting old The oldest position player in baseball - the Minnesota Twins’ Paul Molitor, 42 - dropped a game-winning bunt single against the oldest pitcher - Dennis Eckersley of the Boston Red Sox, 43 - at the Metrodome two weekends ago. A dejected Eckersley said afterward that after battling Molitor for two decades, the only thing he’d remember was that bunt.

“When you’re the age Eck and I are, the memory is the first thing to go,” Molitor told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “So he won’t have to remember it for long.”

He’s older than Molitor and Eckersley

Remember the first time you heard of Steve DeBerg?

“Uh, let me think. It would have to be in middle school,” replied Atlanta Falcons receiver Jammi German, which sounds about right because he was just 4 years old when DeBerg began his NFL career.

Now they’re together - a rookie receiver teaming up with a 44-year-old quarterback who is the league’s oldest player since George Blanda.

When DeBerg entered the league in 1978, one of his teammates was O.J. Simpson.

No one this elderly has played in the NFL since 1975, when Blanda’s 26-season career came to an end with the Oakland Raiders at age 48.

“I’m definitely not Steve Young,” DeBerg said with a chuckle, referring to both his birth certificate and the 49ers quarterback who is eight years his junior. “I’m Steve Old.”

It was a Cracker Jack maneuver

When the Toronto Blue Jay Carlos Almonzar was waved in from the bullpen last Sunday in Anaheim, he had one slight problem: He couldn’t get the bullpen gate open. So he jumped into the stands, then hopped over the left-field fence to get to the field. “When he came out,” Angels manager Terry Collins said, “I figured he’d be carrying a pennant, some peanuts and popcorn.”

This guy should be doing standup

It isn’t just Mark McGwire’s mammoth home runs that attract “oohs” and “aahs”, you know. Last week in St. Louis, he hit a fly ball to Marlins centerfielder John Cangelosi “that went so high,” according to Florida coach Rich Donnelly, “by the time it came down, Cangy was collecting his pension.”

“I swear that ball went higher than the Arch,” Donnelly said. “It went so high that Cangy said, ‘I’ve got it,’ 26 times.”

“I feel sorry for the Missouri Highway Patrol,” Donnelly added, “because after Mac hit that home run, everybody left (the park). And after we tied it in the ninth, they set the Missouri state record for U-turns - trying to get back to see him hit.”

The last word …

“It took me 12 years to get to the minors.”

- Former Oriole Pete Incaviglia, who went right from college to the major leagues but had to sign a Triple-A contract to remain in professional baseball this year.