Say What?
Strawberry had sex in the clubhouse between innings
Darryl Strawberry, former All-Star right fielder of the New York Mets, said he had sexual flings with women between innings of baseball games he was playing. He told SiriusXM Radio he would converse with women who were in the stands and persuade them to meet him in the clubhouse. He would ask one of the clubhouse attendants to lead his chosen consort to the locker room. “Between innings, it worked out well, just how crazy it was,” Strawberry said.
Dear Darryl: Guess you’re not running for Role Model of the Year.
Ballplayers reducing their autographs to initials
Boston’s All-Star outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. takes pride in his penmanship, which he displays when he signs autographs. “My mom made me rewrite all my schoolwork when I was young,” he said. Unfortunately his commitment to legibility is not shared by many of his colleagues. In an era of text-messaging and email – and very little handwriting – most major-league players, including the sport’s most acclaimed star, Mike Trout, rarely sign their name, but use only their initials. Bradley himself has “an A and a B signature. The B is like ‘JBJr. when I’ve got to sign for the masses. Usually for kids, it’s A.”
Dear JB: Perhaps you don’t realize that an initialed autograph may alienate your fans more than a polite refusal to sign at all.
Prison term for Cards’ executive who hacked Astros
Christopher Correa had been a law-abiding citizen, he claims, when he saw an opportunity for digital espionage he could not resist. According to federal court records that have become public, when Jeff Luhnow in December 2011 left the St. Louis Cardinals’ front office to be general manager of the Astros, he turned in his laptop computer and the password for it. After a year of trying out variations of that passcode, Correa apparently found the one Luhnow devised for his new team. Breach accomplished, Correa invaded and navigated Astros cyberspace, plundering it for information. In July 2013, as Major League Baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline approached, Correa hacked the Astros again. The FBI began investigating when some of the team’s proprietary data was leaked online in December 2014. The trail of that leak led to Correa, who on Monday was sentenced to 46 months after conviction on five counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer. Correa expressed “remorse and regret for my actions. I violated my values . . . ”
Dear Chris: You’re a valuable reverse role model, showing that white-collar crime can be more punished than violent crime. The media attention your case received causes other cyberspace pirates to pause.
Pacers’ Teague to live in parents’ basement
Jeff Teague, the Indiana Pacers’ All-Star point guard acquired in a trade from Atlanta, has moved into his parents’ basement in Indianapolis. His parents are from Indianapolis, and Teague gave them a house there while he played in Atlanta. Even though he’s salaried at $8 million a year and can afford the most expensive of digs, he told FOX Sports Radio in Indianapolis: “I’m gonna live in my old house with my mom and dad.”
Riley says he regrets letting D-Wade walk
Pat Riley, president of the Miami Heat, accepted blame for not trying to persuade Dwyane Wade to stay in South Beach for a 14th season rather than sign as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls. Riley suggested that he did not realize Wade was seriously considering leaving to return to his home town. “He floored me,” Riley said. “From my standpoint and the team’s standpoint we’ve had a tough summer – period.”
Dear Pat: Seems like déjà vu – the second superstar to leave your team in two years. LeBron James scurried to his homeland, joining the Cleveland Cavaliers after saying you showed little interest in him.
Gordon considers unretiring to sub for Earnhardt at Brickyard
When Jeff Gordon gave up his NASCAR ride at the end of last season, he said he was retiring as “a full-time driver” but did not rule out racing occasionally. When his former teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was sidelined with a suspected concussion, Gordon, an analyst for Fox NASCAR, was vacationing in France. He was asked to consider driving Hendrick Motor Sport’s No. 88 Chevy in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 if Earnhardt is not cleared to go. Gordon, who raced as a teenager in Indianapolis, won four Sprint Cup titles and 93 races for Hendrick before retiring at 43. He has won the Brickyard five times. When Earnhardt was ruled out of last Sunday’s race in New Hampshire, 23-year-old Alex Bowman replaced him. Bowman started 20th and was running in the top 10 before crashing into the wall with 29 laps to go. With that, it was determined that Gordon would drive the Brickyard, his favorite track, if the lead driver is still suffering concussive symptoms.
Horse named for Leonard Fournette wins in his first start
LSU fans who formed Flurry Racing Stables, obtained permission from Tigers running back Leonard Fournette to name a horse for him. Fournette went off at 14-1 odds in his debut, the sixth race at Belmont Park on Friday. The bay colt rallied to win by a nose. The race carried a purse of $45,000. The Heisman Trophy candidate tweeted congratulations to the horse.
Fournette wins today congrats baby welcome to the family pic.twitter.com/o8uj2kAokv
— 7⃣ (@_fournette) July 15, 2016