SPORTS BEAT

Notes, quotes and things picked up on the run from coast-to-coast and all the stops in between and beyond.

If the regular major league season had ended on July 22, both the Dodgers and the Angels would be playoff bound. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (60-38)) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (48-50) were leading or tied for first place in their respective divisions—National League (NL) West and American League (AL) West.

The Los Angeles Clippers saved a little face for losing Elton Brand and Corey Maggette on July 15 by obtaining the Denver Nuggets’ Marcus Camby for the right to exchange second round picks in the 2010 draft. Clippers newcomer Baron Davis, the ex-Golden State Warrior, is happy about the trade for Camby.

There is no way the 79th annual Major League All-Star Game can measure up to the pre-game ceremonies and introductions of some of the greatest stars baseball has ever produced.

Lined up at every position were most of the greatest stars of the past. They were all there, including Reggie Jackson, Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Dave Winfield, Tony Gwynn, Willie McCovey, Eddie Murray, Ozzie Smith, Hank Aaron, Rod Carew, Ferguson Jenkins, Bob Gibson, Rich “Goose” Gossage, manager Tommy Lasorda, Billy Williams, New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, Gary Carter, Cal Ripken Jr., manager Earl Weaver (Baltimore), Jim Palmer, Whitey Ford, Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson, Juan Marichal, Brooks Robinson, Don Sutton, Harmon Killebrew, Orlando Cepeda, Bill Mazeroski, Ryne Sandberg, et al.

Not even that 15th extra inning classic won by the AL All-Stars, 4-3, could top the beginning of this annual baseball moment. The game produced 27 hits, 34 strikeouts and a two-run homer by the Boston Red Sox’s J.D. Drew, the MVP and ex-Dodger.

If you’re as old as I am you will remember when there were two All-Star Games in 1962, the MVPs in those classics were Los Angeles-based players—the Angels’ late Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner and the Dodgers’ Maury Wills.

For the record, the Jackie Robinson Apartments are built on the sight of the old Ebbets Field where Robinson, Big Don Newcombe, Joe Black, Roy Campanella, et al., made history before the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. The Jackie Robinson Parkway is tribute to the man who broke the color line in major league baseball in 1947 with the then Brooklyn Dodgers.

Did you know that Joe Louis, the Great “Brown Bomber,” successfully defended his heavyweight title seven times at Yankee Stadium? Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers won a pair of World Series at Yankee Stadium, which will be no more after the current season.

The Texas Rangers’ All-Star Milton Bradley, the ex-L.A. Dodger with a fighting temper, is now “an outstanding” player with the Texas Rangers managed by Ron Washington. Bradley went into the All-Star break with a .316 batting average with 57 RBIs and 19 homeruns. Bradley has equaled his high in homeruns. And he’s on a pace to shatter his career highs in RBIs and homers.

Check this: Bradley and his All-Star teammate Josh Hamilton, who has had his problems with drugs and alcohol, were the No. 3 and No. 4 hitters on the major league’s highest-scoring team, combined for 40 homers and 152 RBIs at the All-Star break.

At the moment, Jamaica’s 21-year-old Usain Bolt, has to be the man to beat in both the 100 and 200 meters in the Beijing Olympics. Bolt, the world record holder in the 100, ran the fastest time in the 200 on July 13 this year with a 19.67 clocking at the Tsiklitiria Athens Grand Prix track meet. He’s now the fifth-fastest man in history. Bolt’s time is the sixth best of all-time. World record holder Michael Johnson has run faster twice.

Star power: The sons of Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky (Trevor) and Joe Montana (Nick) and Will Smith (Trey), one of Hollywood’s top actors, will be members of the Oaks Christian High (Westlake) football team this fall. Gretzky and Montana are quarterbacks and Smith is a wide-receiver.

Billy Packer is out as part of the CBS college basketball TV team and former college basketball star, Clark Kellogg, 47, will take his place. The Los Angeles Times’ Diane Pucin wrote on July 15: “Do a five-minute Google search on Billy Packer and you will find him described as ‘arrogant,’ ‘pompous,’ ‘imperious,’ a ‘blowhard,’ an ‘ACC apologist,’ ‘angry,’ ‘rude,’ ‘a fududdy’ and ‘stubborn.’”

And the beat continues.

The University of Southern California received some good news on July 14 when university officials cleared Compton High’s DeMar DeRozan, academically to begin basketball play with the Trojans. DeRozan is a 6-foot-6 star recruit.

Why would disgraced former National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy make 134 calls to Scott Foster, another NBA referee, at the same time he was providing information to gamblers, during the 2006-07 campaign? These calls were made before and after games Donaghy officiated.

Sherman “Jocko” Maxwell, the nation’s first African American sportscaster and a chronicler of the Negro Leagues, died July 16. Maxwell, who was 100 at the time of his death, broadcasted the feats of Negro League baseball players on radio when others virtually ignored them. He was our pioneer. Maxwell had to support himself with a day job at the post office. Yet he kept his love for baseball long before Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball. Maxwell also wrote stories about the Newark Eagles, Big Don Newcombe’s old team. Jerry Izenberg, sports columnist for the Star-Ledger says: “The first thing about Jocko to know is that there would be very few records of the Negro Leagues that are accurate and there would be almost none without him.”

And the beat ends.

Brad Pye Jr. can be reached at Switchreel@aol.com.