No Hall of Fame, but Wax Museum Is Close Enough

Pete Rose might be barred from Cooperstown as far as being in the Hall of Fame is concerned, but that doesn’t keep him from setting up shop there in the days before Hall of Fame ceremonies.

Charlie Hustle, now 55, was hustling his autograph--$25 for a ball and $50 for a bat--at a wax museum only 2 1/2 blocks from the Hall of Fame. Rose, in a way, is already inside the hall, where there are 19 artifacts pertaining to Rose and his 4,256 hits. Many are on display daily even though Rose has been banned from baseball since 1989 for betting on games.

“It’s not hard to be here, to be this close to the Hall of Fame,” he said. “I’m not on the ballot. It’s not like I was eligible and didn’t make it.”

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Trivia time: Who has the most grand slams among active major league players?

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Say it ain’t so: New Orleans Saint quarterback Jim Everett is 33, and he can’t believe it.

“Sometimes I even wonder why they invented a calendar to judge who’s old and who’s young,” he said.

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One view: The bombing at Atlanta proves the United States botched the Olympics, according to China’s state-run English-language newspaper.

“While condemning the barbarous act and lamenting the tragedy, the United States should make a thorough self-criticism over its entire organization work for the games,” the China Daily said in an editorial. “It is a pity that one of the world’s most-advanced nations cannot take preventive measures against terror under its nose.”

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Hard to believe: In Denver, where the Broncos were once the toast of Mile High City, the basketball Nuggets, hockey Avalanche and baseball Rockies all have been to the playoffs more recently than the NFL Broncos.

The last time John Elway made it to the playoffs was during the 1993 season.

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Red light: Explained drag racer Eddie Hill, after being disqualified for jumping the start: “I guess my adrenaline overpressurized my throttle foot.”

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Family first: After Greg Kraft was hired as track and field coach at Arizona State, he said he would bring only one of his assistants with him from South Carolina. It was his wife, Maggie, who coaches distance runners.

Track maven Al Franken says, “It’s sort of nice he’s bringing his wife along.”

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Last words: Columnist Steve Jacobson of Newsday concluded his Olympic Games wrap-up article with this commercial message: “And I didn’t drink a single Coke.”

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Trivia answer: Eddie Murray, with 17.

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And finally: Olympian Candace Murray of Canada, on what prompted her to begin playing softball:

“I tried the Brownies, but I didn’t like the skirt.”