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Don't pass the sandwich

There's a time and place for sharing your lunch, but that's not while you're in prison awaiting trial on a murder charge. Proof of that is Douglas Eugene Wilson, who just had his Colorado prison sentence extended for three years because he passed out cheese sandwiches to other inmates, which violates jail rules. Wilson had been warned not to distribute contraband, but when he did so, he wound up in a scuffle with his jailers that led to assault charges against him. Prosecutors dropped the charges in exchange for his contraband guilty plea, not that a lighter sentence is a huge incentive for a guy already already behind bars for life. Wilson was convicted last month of first-degree murder in a strangling death.

One of the surest ways to land in the Baseball Hall of Fame is to compile 3,000 career hits, a point driven home last week by the selection of Wade Boggs to the Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine. Boggs, who will join fellow infielder Ryne Sandberg in the Class of '05, was not a slugger, but as one of only 25 players to ever accumulate 3,000 or more hits, his selection was virtually assured. No player who's ever reached that milestone and was eligible for election has ever been denied entrance. Seventy-five percent of Boggs's hits were singles, which makes him similar to Pete Rose, the hit king he patterned himself after. Boggs, in fact, believes that Rose, who has been banned from baseball for gambling, should be inducted, too. With 3,010 hits, Boggs is 23rd on the all-time list. The top 10 hitters, with their hit totals:

1. Pete Rose 4,256
2. Ty Cobb 4,191
3. Hank Aaron 3,771
4. Stan Musial 3,630
5. Tris Speaker 3,514
6. Carl Yastrzemski 3,419
7. Honus Wagner 3,415
8. Paul Molitor 3,319
9. Eddie Collins 3,315
10. Willie Mays 3,283
- Baseball Almanac