Wacky big-league managers

Yesterday was "Nutty Manager Day" in Major League Baseball. Unofficially, of course.

Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon dyed his hair, switching from silver to black faster than you can say "Johnny Cash," and the Cubs' Lou Piniella became the second Chicago figure in a week to get nabbed for jaywalking.

Piniella said he was given a warning after jaywalking in downtown San Diego yesterday, just eight days after White Sox general manager Ken Williams was fined for the same infraction in Seattle.

Piniella was talking on his cell phone with his son while he was looking for a place to get his hair cut when he said he crossed the street against a red light.

Piniella said he heard a police siren and thought, "I wonder who he's after?"

It turned out to be him.

A motorcycle cop checked Piniella's identification, then gave him a verbal warning.

"I appreciated it," Piniella said, laughing heartily.

Maddon came to Tropicana Field for last night's game against Baltimore with his hair dyed jet black, a head start on a Johnny Cash-themed road trip next week.

"I thought, why not in advance?" Maddon said. "Lighten things up a bit. It's part of the grand scheme."

Tampa Bay uses various themes for longer trips in an attempt to keep the team loose.

"I didn't know it was him," said designated hitter Pat Burrell, who might have played for the zaniest manager of them all last year, your own Charlie Manuel.

"It was time to do something different," Maddon said. "It's here to stay."

Now for the really zany part of this exercise - Maddon is not the first Rays manager to dye his hair.

When Piniella managed Tampa Bay six years ago, he added hints of blond to his hair to fulfill a pledge after the Rays won three games in a row.

If you think this is hard to keep track of while reading, try writing it.

History lessons. On Aug. 18, 1960, righthander Lew Burdette of the Milwaukee Braves pitched a no-hitter against the Phillies in an epic 1-0 win in which he outpitched 6-foot-7 NBA star Gene Conley, who played power forward for the Boston Celtics in the off-season.

Burdette, who threw one of the nastiest spitters this side of Gaylord Perry, faced the minimum 27 batters. The Phillies' Tony Gonzalez reached first in the fifth after being hit by a pitch but was wiped out in a double play.

Burdette, who had two hits in the game, doubled in the eighth and scored the game's only run on an RBI single by Bill Bruton.

And on Aug. 18, 1982, Pete Rose made his 13,941st plate appearance in a 5-3 Phillies win over the Houston Astros to move into first place on the career list ahead of Hank Aaron.