Babe’s pants larger than life

The final road uniform Babe Ruth wore as a first-base coach for the 1938 Brooklyn Dodgers is up for auction.

How can bidders be sure the uniform is authentic?

Take one look at the size.

"The enormous size of the pants prove that Babe Ruth truly was larger than life," said David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions, which is running the sale.

• SOME BUNNY LOVES YOU -- Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett is set to marry former Playboy Playmate Kendra Wilkinson, reportedly proposing to her atop the Space Needle during his team's visit to Seattle last weekend.

Hugh Hefner immediately declared it the mother of all Baskett catches.

• DEMOCRATIC APPEAL -- Barack Obama, meet the Bronx Bombers.

"Barack Obama signifies hope," wrote William McGee of the New York Daily News. "Not over the economic meltdown or the War on Terror, but for October baseball in the Bronx. ...

"With a Democratic rather than Republican commander in chief, the Yankees have won several more pennants (22 compared to 17) and nearly three times as many championships (19 to 7)."

• NO PACE CAR -- Two-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart has been chosen grand marshal for the Fiesta Bowl parade in Phoenix on Jan. 3, the first driver to be so honored.

Fiesta Bowl executive director John Junker had one warning for Stewart: "We do have one rule," Junker said. "There is no passing in the parade."

• DEAR 'DAIRY' -- Minnesota Vikings safety Darren Sharper, to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, on what he remembers most from his years with the Green Bay Packers: "A lot of cheese."

• NO LOSS FOR WORDS -- Shaquille O'Neal reveals the secret to being Shaq: "When I say and do things, it's all about marketing. Everyone will miss my quotatiousness when I'm gone."

• ILLEGAL PROCEDURE -- Ben Coleman, who played for four NFL teams, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for tax evasion, filing false loan applications and identity theft.

Defense lawyers, pointing out their client was an offensive lineman, asked he be placed in a holding cell.

• GOOD SEAT AVAILABLE -- A 68-year-old woman died at a Blackhawks game last week, the Chicago Tribune reported -- 22 years after the woman's mother died while watching the NHL team play.

Bet there's no infighting over who inherits that season ticket.

• EYES ON THE PREZ -- Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren says he was so pumped by Obama's presidential triumph that he was tempted to talk to his offensively challenged team about it, then thought better of it.

"Right now," he told The Associated Press, "I want them to think about how to get a first down."

• PASS THE 'ICE SCREAM' -- And in this week's birthday news, figure-skating bad girl Tonya Harding turns 38 on Wednesday.

"Don't look for her to celebrate by going clubbing," wrote Richard Oliver of the San Antonio Express-News. "As she knows all too well, it's bad for the knees."

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