Cubs' Baker dusts off some of his rookie memories

No word on whether the daily commute to the ballpark was an uphill, five-mile walk in the snow, but to hear Dusty Baker tell it, today's rookie hitters have it a lot easier than he ever did.

"When I first came up, they'd assume you could hit the fastball, so they'd see if you could hit the curveball," the Cubs' manager told the Chicago Tribune. "If you could hit the curve, they'd see if you could hit the slider.

"If you could hit the slider, they'd see if you could hit the changeup.

"If you could hit the changeup, they'd say, 'OK, let's see if you can hit on your back.' "

Ringing 'em up

New Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis makes it a point, during recruiting season, to always wear one of the three Super Bowl rings he earned as the New England Patriots' offensive coordinator.

"Like I tell my wife," Weis told The Associated Press, "if I can get them to look at my hand instead of my face, I've got a chance."

Vicious cycle

The police box score from this year's annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota reads 388 arrests — 188 for drunken driving, 162 for drug misdemeanors and 38 for drug felonies — and 1,250 citations, AP reported.

"In other words," wrote Randy Turner of the Winnipeg Free Press, "it's like a Portland Trail Blazers season, only with Harley Davidsons."

Baseball 101

Q: How can San Diego justify the specter of winning the National League West with a losing record?

A: The Padres obviously took a vow of poverty.

The Santa clause

NBA teams, under the amnesty clause in the new collective bargaining agreement, will avoid a combined $212 million in luxury-tax payments by paying players that amount not to play for them, AP reported.

The New York Knicks — mistakenly thinking it was called the amnesia rule — announced they'd like to forget they ever gave Allan Houston a six-year, $100 million deal.

Talking the talk

• Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun, on Rafael Palmeiro's dwindling credibility: "Right about now, Raffy could tell us Roger Clemens has a good fastball, Alex Rodriguez can hit for power and the outfield grass is green — and we'd have to go for a second opinion."

• Jack Finarelli of sportscurmudgeon.com, on possible changes if Redskins owner Daniel Snyder makes good on his bid to buy Six Flags theme parks: "Tickets for the Ferris wheel will only be sold to people who buy personal-seat licenses."

• Scott Ostler of MSNBC.com, on golfer Phil Mickelson's weight: "If he puts on 10 more pounds and gets paired with John Daly, they'll have to walk the fairways single-file."

Mascot love

Three stellar characters — the Famous Chicken, Philadelphia's Phillie Phanatic and the Phoenix Suns' Gorilla — are the charter inductees into the new Mascot Hall of Fame in Philadelphia.

It would've been four, but the Devil Rays and Clippers couldn't stop arguing about who had first dibs on Mickey Mouse.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com