Rose’s Own Poll Is Unanimous

Newspapers in Cincinnati have been running polls on whether Pete Rose should retire himself as a player and devote his time to managing full time.

According to The Sporting News, the latest poll showed readers voting, 169-124, in favor of Rose’s retirement.

What did Rose think of that?

“Bah,” he said. “A poll of 250 or 300 people? I’ve had that many enemies in Cincinnati since I got divorced from my first wife. She had a big family.”

To Joe Garagiola, who was wondering Saturday what kind of baseball player Glenn Davis was at Army: Wrote Earl Gustkey of The Times in a 1983 feature on Davis: “He looked like a major league center fielder to most scouts and was offered contracts by 13 clubs. The Dodgers were the most persistent, Branch Rickey pursuing him despite his three-year active-duty obligation.”

Trivia Time: What do Hugh McElhenny, Bobby Bonds and Lynn Swann have in common? (Answer below.)

Said Boston’s Jerry Sichting, when asked before Game 5 about the possibility of Houston overcoming a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA title: “There’s no way that’ll happen. It’s impossible.”

Don’t tell it to the Kansas City Royals. Last year, they overcame 3-1 deficits against Toronto in the Championship Series and against St. Louis in the World Series to win both.

Larry Bird told the New York Times that Boston was looking at both Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas during the off-season to shore up the Celtic bench.

“I thought that between him and Luke, whichever team got the right one, would win the championship,” Bird said. “I think we benefited. Luke played well for the Lakers, but Bill fit our needs. He’s the best rebounder in basketball.”

Note: With the Clippers in 1984-85, Walton had the best rebounds-per-minute average in the NBA. It worked out to 17.7 rebounds per 48 minutes.

No, the Angels didn’t set a record for fewest hits in consecutive games when New York and Cleveland held them to a total of three last week.

The record is two, most recently tied by the Dodgers at Houston in 1981. Nolan Ryan beat them, 5-0, with the fifth no-hitter of his career, and then Don Sutton beat them, 4-1, with a two-hitter.

Note: The record for a doubleheader is three, set by the Dean brothers as St. Louis beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 13-0 and 3-0, in 1934. Dizzy pitched a three-hitter in the opener and Paul a no-hitter in the nightcap.

Said Dizzy afterward: “If I’da known Paul was gonna pitch a no-hitter, I’da throwed one, too.”

From The Sporting News: “When guard Tom Newberry, the Rams’ No. 2 pick, needed some money during his senior season at Wisconsin La Crosse, he entered a boxing competition for a $1,500 prize. The first bout lasted seven seconds, the second one minute, the third 22 seconds and the championship 27 seconds. It took Newberry a total of 1:56 to earn his cash.”

Trivia Answer: All three won California high school long jump titles--McElhenny (L.A. Washington), 1947; Bonds (Riverside), 1964; Swann (San Mateo Serra), 1970.

Quotebook

Former umpire Ron Luciano, on why he preferred to work the basepaths: “I can’t tell the pitches. I don’t know the difference between a slider and a curve. I know a fastball because it comes in rapidly.”