21.   For a big-league manager to have never played an inning of pro ball is a rarity.

22.   Gartland roomed for a while with Joe Namath, then went on to play a little pro ball with the Falcons and the Colts.

23.   Hardaway came into pro ball with the most devastating crossover dribble the sport had seen.

24.   He got a degree in physiology and was on the verge of attending chiropractic school in St. Louis before he decided to play pro ball.

25.   He came to pitch for the Falmouth Commodores, eyeing a future in pro ball.

26.   He played pro ball.

27.   He saw a short, compact swing that could develop, talked to Spencer, and ascertained that he wanted to play pro ball.

28.   He then went on to play pro ball in Europe.

29.   He was, after all, only a country teen-ager when he first played pro ball, with the Indianapolis Clowns of the dying Negro League.

30.   He never played pro ball.