Rose Looks Forward to Being Coverboy

As he moves in on Ty Cobb’s record, Pete Rose says he’s already heard he’ll be on the cover of Time magazine.

“I was supposed to be on their cover once before,” he said, “but the Ayatollah knocked me off. So, if they don’t have any assassinations or anything, I guess I’ll be there.

“Newsweek’s supposed to do something on me, too. I hope I’m on the cover of both at the same time.”

Add Rose: He’s 44, but he’s got the second best on-base percentage in the National League.

How does he do it?

“I can outrun a lot of guys on the Cincinnati Reds team, believe it or not,” he said. “I’ve got some quickness left. I can run to first in about 4.0 seconds.”

Trivia Time: Of all the teams Red Auerbach coached into the NBA playoffs, which had the best regular-season record? (Answer at right.)

James H. Cobb, a son of the late Ty Cobb, said an asterisk should go next to Pete Rose’s record, since he’s playing 162 games a season.

Cobb, a retired California businessman, said Rose has collected 195 of his hits after the 154th game of the season.

“If Pete Rose had the same schedule my father had, Pete wouldn’t even have 4,000 hits yet,” Cobb said.

Fair enough, but if there hadn’t been a strike in 1981, Rose already would have broken the record. Based on what he did the rest of the season, he lost 70 hits to the strike.

Add Cobb: The son said he still admired Rose, adding: “He’s very much like my father. He would admire Pete’s determination. He would recognize Pete as a little fellow who always gives his best.”

Little? Rose is 5-11 and 203. In boxing, he’d be a heavyweight.

From New York Yankee pitcher Ron Guidry: “If you approach Billy Martin right, he’s OK. I avoid him altogether.”

Funny thing is, they seem to be good for each other. Under Martin, Guidry is 70-22 for a percentage of .761. Under other Yankee managers, he is 70-43 for .619.

Among the banners on display at Veterans Stadium, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, was this one: “Please strike now.”

Trivia Answer: The Washington Capitols in 1946-47, the first season of the NBA. They had a 49-11 record for a percentage of .817. Of Auerbach’s teams at Boston, the 1959-60 team was best at 59-16, a percentage of .787.

Note: The Capitols didn’t make it to the playoff finals, won by the Philadelphia Warriors. The Warriors were led by Joe Fulks, the league scoring leader, who later would set a record of 63 points in a game. Since 1946-47, only two men, George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers and Lew Alcindor of the Milwaukee Bucks, have played on championship teams the same year they won scoring titles.

Add Alcindor: Jack Donohue, his high school coach at Power Memorial, told Steve Jacobson of Newsday: “What I liked was that he didn’t complain, and they went after him. I’m surprised he stayed in the league so long. He was such a sensitive person, I thought with all the elbows and the shoving that he’d make his money and leave.”

He added: “It bothered me when they said he was naturally good. Very few things are natural about playing basketball. They said he was great because he was so tall. I thought you could cut him in half and have two great backcourt men.”

Quotebook

Golden State Coach John Bach, a native of Brooklyn, on St. John’s guard Chris Mullin, the club’s No. 1 draft choice: “I’m very happy to converse with another guy with a Brooklynese accent. Chris and I can at least talk to each other.”