TORONTO — Pete Rose knew Derek Jeter turns 40 on Thursday, which matches everything I’ve heard about baseball’s exiled Hit King. Even at 73, with the 25th anniversary of his lifetime suspension from Major League Baseball arriving in August, the non-Hall of Famer possesses the sharpest eye, the finest attention to detail, for the game that made him both famous and infamous.
So even though he’s permanently on the outs due to a lack of honesty concerning his bets on baseball back in the day, you believe him when he pats himself on the back regarding Jeter, the active hit king (such a title gets you only lowercase letters) until he retires at year’s end.
“I’m one of those guys who never thought he had a chance at passing me,” Rose told The Post Wednesday morning in a telephone interview. “He didn’t play last year, right?”
“He played in 17 games,” I mildly corrected.
“Go ahead and give him 200 hits last year and see where he is on the list,” Rose said. “He’s still 600 or 700 short. And tomorrow, he’s 40 years old.”
Jeter began play Wednesday with 3,387 hits. If you add 188 hits to the 12 he actually tallied during his 2013 nightmare, that would give him 3,575 — 681 shy of Rose’s 4,256.
Rose can say he told us so because he did just that at a time when it wasn’t in vogue to do so. On Oct. 10, 2012, the website Sports On Earth ran a piece quoting Rose on Jeter, just weeks after Jeter had led the American League with 216 hits at age 38.
“He still needs 950 hits, right?” Rose said to Joe Posnanski, the article’s author. “He had a great year this year, but you think he can do that again? At 39? A shortstop? Let’s say he does it again. Let’s say he gets 200 more hits next year. And let’s say he gets 200 more hits when he’s 40, though I don’t think he can. OK, can he get 200 more hits when he’s 41? You think he can?”
Three days after that piece ran, Jeter broke his left ankle in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. It took him essentially a year and a half to become even a serviceable major league player again, and as Rose has noticed, “serviceable” is about Jeter’s level now.
“I guess I’m a little selfish because I like to watch him play and next year, I’m not going to have the opportunity to watch him play,” Rose said of Jeter. “But this year, I’m not watching ‘Derek Jeter’ play. Up until now, he hasn’t been the Derek Jeter we’ve been watching for the last 20 years.
“I hope he gets real hot.”
To Rose, the math was simple all along on his crown being safe from Jeter, even as some media types envisioned the Yankees captain playing and dominating into his mid-40s.
“Two years ago or so (May 10, 2012), Derek got his 10,000th at-bat,” Rose said. “We’re going to end up with very similar lifetime batting averages (Jeter began Wednesday at .311 and sinking, and Rose’s is .303).
“I’m sitting there, and I’m figuring out: He can’t create 4,000 more at-bats. It’s impossible.”
Rose finished with 14,053 at-bats; Jeter brought 10,880 into Wednesday. “If someone was to beat your record, you wish it would be a guy like Derek Jeter,” Rose said. “He comes to the ballpark every day, and he doesn’t [complain]. He busts his ass. He plays defense.”
Commissioner Bud Selig would have enjoyed seeing Jeter surpass Rose, too. Shoot, Selig, CEO of the Jeter Fan Club, probably would have testified in person against Alex Rodriguez in return for that fantasy turning into reality. But Jeter will come nowhere close to Rose, and Rose is nowhere close to getting reinstated by Selig.
Instead, Rose got on the phone with me to discuss SportsBeep, a new app that will allow fans to wager on fantasy sports matchups and win cash prizes. It sounds pretty cool. Of course, why Rose would associate with this product, when it reminds us of his dark past — even though, to make clear, SportsBeep is perfectly legal — confounds.
“It’s the best choice for me at this stage of my life and what I’m trying to accomplish,” Rose said. “To be honest with you, I’d rather be in baseball helping younger players become better players. But I have family to support, and this is a good opportunity to support my family around me.
“And it will make people bigger and better fans. Any time you can make someone a bigger and better fan, you’re helping the game.”
Based on his correct vision on Jeter, Rose might as well sell his forecasts to the fantasy players. For whatever you think of his past, his choices or his tact, the guy still knows his baseball.