Here’s a Tip of Hat to Lord Derby

If a coin flip had come up the other way, they would be running the Kentucky Bumbry, not the Kentucky Derby, on the first Saturday of each May.

At least that’s the way Lord Derby tells it. He’s the owner of Teleprompter, winner of the Arlington Million.

Revealing how the Epsom Derby in England got its name, he said: “My ancestor, the 12th Lord Derby, and his neighbor, Sir Charles Bumbry, started a race for 3-year-old fillies in 1779. They called it the Oaks, after my ancestor’s house.

“That race was so successful that the next year they decided to have a race for colts. They tossed up to see which of them it would be named after.

“My ancestor won. Otherwise, it would have been the Epsom Bumbry and you might be calling it the Kentucky Bumbry. That wouldn’t have done at all, would it?”

Trivia Time: What do coaches Jim Hanifan of the St. Louis Cardinals and Hugh Campbell of the Houston Oilers have in common. (Answer below.)

Ex-wife Karolyn said he used to figure out his batting averages at the breakfast table, but Pete Rose told Ira Berkow of the New York Times: “That’s not true. I didn’t have to. I just looked in a newspaper. I was always in the top 10.”

He also said it isn’t true that the only book he has read is the “Pete Rose Story.”

“I also read the ‘Lou Gehrig Story,’ ” he said. “I did a report on it in the sixth grade, the seventh grade, the eighth grade and I eventually got an A on it in the ninth grade.”

Wait a Minute: Said General Manager John Mullen in conclusion after announcing that Bobby Wine was the new manager of the Atlanta Braves: “Eddie Haas’ era as a major league manager is behind us.”

That was an era?

Before the Yankees left for Oakland, Tom Verducci of Newsday asked Billy Martin how he felt returning to his hometown to face a team he used to manage.

“It’s no different beating them than it is any team in the league,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing my mother. She called ahead to me in Anaheim and gave me a list for tickets. It’s a lot. And she asked me for an autographed picture of George Steinbrenner. I’ll have to work on that.”

Jimmy Connors explains why the U.S. Open is his favorite tournament: “When you play in New York, they come to see two guys kill each other. They know I’ll go out and spill my guts to win.

“At the French, if you spill your guts, they just ignore it. And at Wimbledon, if you spill your guts, they’ll ask you to clean it up.”

Boris Becker doesn’t get mad, he gets even. Facing Mats Wilander for the first time since the Swede eliminated him in the French Open, Becker beat him handily in the ATP Championships.

Said Becker: “When I’m losing to a guy, I’m eager to play him because I want to beat him. I lost to McEnroe and Lendl. I want to beat them.”

He probably will get a shot at McEnroe next Thursday in the U.S. Open.

Trivia Answer: Both won NCAA pass receiving titles. Hanifan, at Cal, won in 1954. Campbell, at Washington State, won in 1960 and 1961.

Quotebook

Mickey Mantle, recalling the first spring practice under new manager Yogi Berra: “He told the pitchers to pair off in threes.”