She’s Got Sure Way to Keep Time

At Wimbledon, when they asked Boris Becker why he wore a watch during his matches, he said: “I have a contract with the watch company.”

Steffi Graf, also from West Germany, likewise wears a watch, and John Feinstein of the Washington Post asked her at the U.S. Open if she, too, had a contract.

“No,” she said.

They why does she wear it?

“I wear it, because if I didn’t, I would lose it,” she said.

Add Open: What do tennis players watch on television when there’s no tennis to watch? In the men’s locker room Saturday morning, a considerable crowd had gathered around the set. What was on? Pro wrestling.

Trivia Time: In the 1980 World Series, Pete Rose caught a foul fly after it had bounced out of the glove of a teammate. Who was the teammate? (Answer below.)

When they retired Jim Palmer’s No. 22 jersey Sunday at Baltimore, they also gave the three-time Cy Young Award winner a 35-foot cabin cruiser.

Said Oriole Manager Earl Weaver: “There was many a day I would have liked to put Palmer on that boat and sent him to China. Of course, there was many a day he would have liked to have thrown me off that boat.”

Said Palmer: “You’re used to being the captain, and you can be the captain of my ship anytime you want. But I just want to warn you, there aren’t any life preservers.”

For What It’s Worth: When San Francisco traded Bill Madlock to Pittsburgh on June 28, 1979, the Pirates were 6 1/2 games behind Montreal in the National League East and Madlock was hitting .261.

The Pirates went on to win the pennant and Madlock wound up hitting .298. In the World Series, he batted .375 as the Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles in seven games.

Wait a Minute: Said Pete Rose Sunday when asked if Cincinnati Reds’ owner Marge Schott was trying to coerce him into getting his record-breaking hit in Cincinnati: “She’s never said anything to me about it, just in a kidding way. She’s never called and said, ‘I want you to do it here.’ ”

Said Rose last week: “Obviously, I’d like to do it here, but it’s not a do-or-die thing with me. It might be with Marge. She told me the other night, ‘Boy, I want you to get that hit at home.’ I want to get off the phone when she starts talking like that.”

Add Rose: Asked Sunday about the possibility of setting the record in St. Louis tonight, he said: “I can’t get six hits tomorrow. I’ve only gotten six hits in a game once in my life--when I was in Class A ball. And I was 0 for 2 in the first inning of that game, I might add.”

Dave Winfield of the New York Yankees, predicting that the pressure will get to Toronto, told Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post: “That’s why they got Cliff Johnson. To yell, ‘You bleeping this’ and ‘You bleeping that’ at us. Yeah, that’s the reason. Go on and write it.

“Toronto wants a tough guy in the lineup and in that dugout, ‘cause they know they’ve gotta come to New York and they gotta play us.”

Trivia Answer: Catcher Bob Boone, now with the Angels. In the ninth inning of the sixth game, Frank White of Kansas City hit a foul fly which Rose caught after it bounced out of Boone’s glove. One out later, the Phillies won the game and the Series. Boone was Philadelphia’s leading hitter at .412. Rose batted .261.

Quotebook

Milwaukee pitcher Danny Darwin, after setting a club record with his 10th straight loss: “Down the line it will even up. Maybe in a softball league.”