For The Record

M-I-S-S-P-E-L-L-E-D on Anaheim outfielder Adam Riggs's jersey,
the word angels. Riggs took the field last Saturday against the
Tigers wearing a jersey that read ANGEES and didn't notice the
error until teammates began laughing in the first inning.
Undaunted, Riggs played on, going 0 for 2 with a walk and a run
scored in an 11-7 Anaheim win. Manager Mike Scioscia did his
best to explain the gaffe, saying, "We've had some
kindergartners chip in and do some sewing for us."

HELD on $100,000 bail in the Pinellas County (Fla.) jail after
being extradited from Germany by U.S. marshals on Aug. 3, former
tennis star Roscoe Tanner. Tanner, whose legal woes stretch back
nearly a decade (SI, Aug. 4), faces charges of grand theft and
obtaining property by passing a worthless check in Florida, where
he is accused of swindling a yacht broker out of $35,595. He
faces 20 years in prison if convicted, and officials in Florida
have indicated that when the state is through with Tanner, they
will send him to New Jersey, where he faces charges of failure to
pay more than $70,000 in child support.

CERTIFIED by Bill Jenkinson of the Society for American Baseball
Research (SABR) as the longest home run ever hit, a shot Babe
Ruth launched at Artillery Park in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Ruth's homer
capped a remarkable three-day stretch in October 1926. On the
10th he hit the longest homer in World Series history, a
510-footer at Yankee Stadium in a 3-2 loss to the Cardinals,
which gave St. Louis the championship. The following day he
visited Johnny Sylvester, a sick 10-year-old New Jersey boy who,
legend has it, had earlier asked Ruth to hit a home run for him
in the Series. (The Bambino obliged with four.) On the 12th he
visited Wilkes-Barre for an exhibition game between Hughestown
and Larksville, two local semipro teams. Ruth challenged
Larksville pitcher Ernie Corkran to throw his fastest pitch and
belted it to rightfield. According to newspaper accounts, it was
still rising as it cleared the fence 400 feet away. For the only
time in his life, Ruth asked for a measurement, and he was told
that the ball traveled 650 feet. Jenkinson, who has been
researching homers for 23 years, doubts it went that far. But
after studying aerial photographs of the field and taking
measurements, he said, "I think the people from this area can
rightfully claim the longest ball in competitive baseball history
was hit here. I think we can fairly conclude that this ball
traveled well over 600 feet."

SLEPT on a floor at New York City's JFK Airport last Thursday
night, Giants outfielder Tony Torcato. Summoned to New York to
join the team from Triple A Fresno, Torcato landed 20 minutes
after the city's power went out. Unable to get a cellphone
signal, he was stranded in the airport--a mere eight miles from
Shea Stadium, where his teammates were stuck on a bus--for 27
hours before a league official picked him up. Said Torcato, 23,
who met up with the team in Montreal, "It was the worst
experience I've had in my life. I don't ever want to go back
there."

RELEASED after serving 70 months in prison for the armed robbery
of a Eugene, Ore., pizza parlor, Olympic hopeful Jonathan Gill,
34. The once-promising prep miler trained by circling prison
tracks--running up to 100 miles a week--like Peter Strauss in the
1979 TV movie The Jericho Mile. "I sincerely believe he has a
chance to make the Olympic team," says Gill's coach, Dick Brown,
who trained Olympian Mary Decker Slaney. In solitary confinement
on his 30th birthday, Gill vowed to represent the U.S. in the
1,500 meters at the 2004 Games. To do so he must place in the top
three at the July trials--and run the equivalent of a 3:52 mile.
"It's about desire," Gill says. "This is my way out."

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN CORDES (RIGGS) Riggs

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN KLICKER/AP (GILL)