This Shows You Can Sure Bet on Rose

Here’s something maybe Pete Rose can bet on. At least two online sports books have posted odds on whether Rose will be voted into the Hall of Fame.

One service had the odds at 1-5 that he would not be voted in and 4-1 that he would.

Another service listed odds of 1-2 that he wouldn’t get in and 3-2 that he would. That service also listed the odds that Rose would get full reinstatement into baseball as 8-1 against.

A check of the Las Vegas casinos found none posting such odds.

Trivia time: Who was the last Cincinnati Red to lead the National League in batting?

Ouch: Maybe the strongest quote against Pete Rose was spoken by Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller. The New York Post ran it in big bold letters: “If you murder somebody and say you’re sorry, does that vindicate you? Is this a generation of shamelessness? ... Rose is not sorry he gambled.... He’s sorry he got caught.”

Mays’ accuracy questioned: Steve Bitker, a Bay Area sportscaster who wrote a book about the San Francisco Giants’ first year on the West Coast, “The Original San Francisco Giants,” disagrees with Willie Mays’ version of how he could have been a Boston Red Sox.

Mays was quoted in Thursday’s Morning Briefing as saying that, as he remembered it, the scout who signed him, Eddie Montague, at one time worked for the Red Sox but the Red Sox didn’t want him.

Bitker says he doubts Montague ever worked for the Red Sox, and also that the first time he saw Mays with the Birmingham Barons, or Black Barons as they were known, Montague was definitely a New York Giant scout.

Bitker said it’s not surprising that Mays was wrong, “nor was it necessarily a case of intentionally misleading anyone.”

Said Bitker: “Of the 36 (or so) members of the 1958 Giants I interviewed for the book, Willie’s recollections of historical facts needed to be corrected more than anyone else’s.”

Gateway to nowhere: Gateway, the computer company, has offered $10 million in scholarships to USC and LSU to play off their split national football championship. Pretty safe offer since there are so many logistic and red-tape problems it could never happen.

But it makes for a nice publicity stunt.

Devine debate: Tim Quinn of Philadelphia, an Eagle season-ticket holder, e-mailed to say, “I’m so tired of all this Brett Favre-father-looking-down-from-heaven stuff. My father died last year, and he wants the Eagles to win. And he was there first.”

Trivia answer: Rose, with a .338 average in 1973.

And finally: From Tom Arnold of Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show,” on a “Things you wouldn’t say to ... “ segment targeting new Washington Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs:

* “Hey, Joe, don’t give away your race car. You’ll need it when it’s your turn to get out of DC.”

* “Hey, Joe, nice job. You’ve gone from car wrecks to a train wreck.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.