Cheap Seats

Signing of the times

Pete Rose celebrated the 20th anniversary of his 3,000th hit by appearing on a home-shopping network to peddle his autograph.

Said Phil Mushnick of the New York Post: “Rose has sold so many of his autographs, the only thing more worthless is the NHL’s regular season.”

Bird learns to screech

Mark Jackson of the Indiana Pacers, hounded by the Chicago Bulls’ Scottie Pippen again in Game 2 of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series Tuesday night, turned over the ball seven more times, making it 14 in two games.

Ask the Pacers, what else is new?

“You know what I’d like to see, I’d like to see Scottie Pippen guard Michael Jordan full court, like he guarded Mark Jackson tonight, see how long he stayed in the game,” Pacers coach Larry Bird said.

“I thought Scottie got away with a lot more than he did the other night, chest-bumping Mark… . So that’s why Scottie should stay in Chicago!”

Bird, a breath of fresh air among coaches, refused to complain after Game 1, even after the Bulls shot 18 free throws in the first half to his team’s one (on a technical foul against Dennis Rodman).

“I’m not going to complain about officials and call Rod Thorn every week like most of these guys do,” said Bird between games. “If I have a speech to make, I should be giving it to my guys.”

So much for refreshment. After watching Game 2, Bird complained about the officiating, alleging the Bulls bumped Reggie Miller off his game.

Said Jordan, grinning of Bird: “He’s truly a coach now.”

The error of his ways

Omar Vizquel’s streak of 70 errorless games ended on the simplest of plays. He muffed a flip throw from second baseman David Bell on an attempted force at second base.

“I still can’t believe I made an error on that play,” Vizquel said. “It’s funny. I happened to turn around and look at the scoreboard in that inning and it said, ‘Omar has 70 games in a row without an error.’ The next time I touched the ball after seeing that, I made the error.”

The last word …

“What happened in Pittsburgh was gradual. This is more like a mass murder.”

- Florida Marlins manager Jim Leyland, asked if the dismantling of last year’s World Series champions reminded him of the bare-bones approach he encountered in Pittsburgh.