L.A. Was Home, but Buccaneers Never Saw It

Rumor has it the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are eyeing the Los Angeles market, shorn recently of the Rams and Raiders.

Should they move here, it must be pointed out they’d be the second NFL team called the Buccaneers to call Los Angeles home.

In 1926, the NFL, which was trying to move its games off high school fields and into big stadiums, put a team called the Buccaneers in Los Angeles, although they were also called the “Californians” and the “Bears” in newspapers.

However, the team never made it to L.A.

Seems the Coliseum Commission and USC were opposed to pro football in the stadium. The Buccaneers, frozen out, played the entire season on the road and finished 6-3-1.

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Trivia time: The Golden State Warriors made Joe Smith the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick Wednesday. Who did they pick the last time they had the No. 1 overall pick?

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Tommy the tiger: Tom Lasorda often refers to himself as “the Warren Spahn of the International League,” when describing his minor league pitching career.

He was also a master of the low bridge.

At least, he was on Aug. 25, 1957, in a Pacific Coast League game matching his Los Angeles Angels and the Hollywood Stars.

After serving up a home run pitch to the Stars’ Fred Waters, a seething Lasorda took it out on a 5-foot-8 infielder named Forrest (Spook) Jacobs.

Jacobs bunted on the next pitch. The still-hot Lasorda fielded the ball but instead of throwing Jacobs out, he charged into him and flattened him.

A 10-minute melee ensued, highlighted by Lasorda and Jacobs trading roundhouse punches.

Screamed Jacobs afterward: “I haven’t hit a home run in five years! Why’d he low-bridge a little guy like me?”

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Name game: NBC’s Dick Ebersol, after being referred to as “Little Dickie” by Fox’s David Hill, said: “Actually, my real name is Duncan Dickie.

“So being called Little Dickie brought back some terrific memories from my childhood that made me feel warm and gooey all over. I can remember having two poems thrown in my face countless times: ‘It’s hot and sticky, so it’s time for Duncan Dickie,’ and ‘The frost is on the pumpkin, so it’s time for Dickie Duncan.’ ”

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Trivia answer: Joe Barry Carroll, in 1980.

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Quotebook: Todd Phipers, in the Denver Post: “A lot of us would like to see Darryl Strawberry wearing stripes--just not the same ones that Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle wore.”