Cheap Seats

Pitching with a purpose John Steadman of the Baltimore Sun recently wrote about knockdown pitches, which he revealed are born of varied circumstances.

Tommy Byrne once threw at Ted Williams before Williams even got into the batter’s box. “As I remember, Ted called up Mickey Vernon, who was hitting after him,” said Byrne, “and they were about 10 feet from the on-deck circle, toward home plate.

`They weren’t timing me, but I think they were trying to catch the velocity on the ball or what kind of movement it had when I was taking my warm-ups. So I threw one between them to make them back off. Williams then hit a one-hop ground ball off my shin, and it bounced towards third base, but I threw him out and the game was over.

“Later, I was in the clubhouse with an ice pack on my leg. Ted sent the clubhouse man over to see how I was. I told him to go back and tell Ted I never even felt it.”

Now to the bizarre. Many years ago, Nick Cullop, one of those ponderous minor-league home run hitters, began his career as a pitcher. Away from his St. Louis home for the first time and pitching for Omaha in an exhibition in Muskogee, Okla., Cullop was told by his manager, Art Griggs, to knock down Alabama Jones when he next came to the plate.

Cullop struck him out, but Griggs was unhappy. “I told you to knock him down,” said Griggs. “Are you gutless? I want him knocked down.”

So Cullop took him literally. When Jones came up the next time, Nick charged off the mound and started punching him as hard as he could. “I was just a dumb kid back then,” Cullop said in 1959.

Asking a favor

Chicago Tribune columnist Skip Bayless wants the New Jersey Nets, who have the first draft pick, to select Texas center Chris Mihm and keep him away from the Chicago Bulls, who draft fourth.

“Please, New Jersey, make Jerry Krause’s mistake for him,” Bayless said. “Please use the No. 1 pick on the most overrated player in this year’s NBA draft. Chris Mihm’s long-term impact will be as silent as the `h’ in his last name.”

Worth price of admission

After tormenting the Phillies last week, Mark McGwire hit his 19th and 20th homers against the Marlins. “He’s scary,” Florida manager John Boles said. “When he comes up to bat, I hide in the dugout. There’s nothing else like this guy. If I lived in St. Louis, I’d buy four season tickets for the family and the dog just to see this guy daily.”

The last word …

“About that second game of the NBA’s Western Conference finals … Jack Nicholson hasn’t has that bad a day since Tom Cruise got him on the stand in the courtroom.”

- Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post on Blazers’ blowout over the Lakers.