Apparently, He’s Not Fit to Wear Uniform

Pete Rose is not only forbidden to make an appearance in a major league baseball park, he cannot even wear a major league uniform while making a movie.

Producers of a television movie about Babe Ruth, in which Rose was to portray Ty Cobb, had to alter their script because of the edict. The situation arose when the producers sought permission to use team logos and uniforms in the film.

“Usually, when we grant rights, we demand to review the script so as not to portray baseball in a negative light,” Rick White, president of Major League Baseball Properties, said. “In the original script, there was no allusion to Rose.”

Later, after it was decided to use Rose as Cobb, White told the producers: “We don’t want you not to employ Pete Rose, but if you do, he can’t appear in a uniform because he is on the disqualified list.”

The scenes are now expected to show Cobb (Rose) in civilian clothes.

Looking back: When Hugh McElhenny was inducted into the NFL Alumni Order of the Leather Helmet, it brought this comment from Minneapolis columnist Jim Klobuchar:

“I never saw Rachmaninoff play nor Picasso paint, but I did see Hugh McElhenny run with a football. Culturally, it was a trade-off.”

Trivia time: Who was the last golfer before Payne Stewart to win the U.S. Open wearing knickers?

Low expectations: Morning Briefing reported last week that the Mendoza Line is how major league hitters gauge themselves. Mario Mendoza had a career batting average of .215.

He is now employed as a hitting instructor for the Angels’ Class-A farm team in Palm Springs.

Have a seat: White bricks from Chicago’s Comiskey Park, which is being razed, are going for $12.50 apiece, with each bearing a gold-plated inscription that reads: “Original Comiskey Park brick, 1910-1991.”

They are available through Chicago Ticketmaster outlets.

Will he stay?: The Memphis Rockers of the World Basketball League have a player named House Guest.

For the record: Reader Kevin Donahue correctly points out that race driver Juan Manuel Fangio was born June 24, 1911, and not one week later on July 1, as recently reported in Morning Briefing.

Losing streak: Rankin Smith Jr. should have become accustomed to losing when he was president of the Atlanta Falcons, but it may not have prepared him for his latest loss.

Smith, whose father, Rankin Sr., owns the Falcons, was ordered to pay $2.5 million in a lump sum to his estranged wife, Rebecca, and to give her a home in Atlanta, a condominium in Hilton Head, S.C., and other property.

Trivia answer: Gene Sarazen, in 1932.

No way, Jose: Jose Canseco of the Oakland Athletics was asked if he would like to go home to Florida and play with the Miami expansion team. His reaction: “Are you kidding? The waythey boo me here, they’d be throwing hand grenades at me there.”

Quotebook: Golfer Tiger Woods, 15, after winning the California high school championship by 10 strokes and the L. A. City junior championship by 14 strokes: “I’d like to be the Michael Jordan of golf.”