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Rose remains controversial figure m baseball world
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ROSE from page 7
between at-bats.
“All the guys were saying, ‘Geez,
is that your dad? I’ve never seen him
give attention to anybody,’”
Richardson said. “The next time up I
hit an RBI single. He whistled to me
and shook his fist. He was just incred
ibly good to me.”
While Richardson said he remem
bered all the advice, the best memory
was when Rose came to his aid after a
strikeout.
“I remember Pete telling me
before I went to bat that the strike zone
is six inches off the plate and high and
low for rookies,” he said. “I got strike
two called on me. I turned around and
said where is that at? (Umpire) Joe
West said, ‘six inches outside, that’s a
strike for you.’
“The next pitch I couldn’t even
see, it was so far outside and he wrung
me up. Pete came flying out of the
dugout and threw his hat down. He got
thrown out protecting me. I will
always remember that.”
Rose’s advice and managerial
style also has stuck with Richardson.
He said he does many of the same
things at Louisiana Tech as Rose did
with the Reds.
Despite Rose’s detractions,
Richardson has remained loyal to the
non-hall-of-famer not only because of
his on-field legacy but also because of
Rose’s personal side, something few
fans were able to see or read about.
“I thought he was a great guy,”
Richardson said. “He was great to me
and taught me a lot. I knew him per
sonally and remember a lot of the good
things he did.”
Richardson recalled a game in San
Francisco where Rose picked a couple
kids out of the crowd before the game
and brought them into the dug out
where players autographed balls for
them.
“He did this at most places we
went to,” Richardson said. “I saw what
he did for these kids and I thought he
was good for them.
“I still think he is going to get into
the Hall of Fame. Most baseball play
ers think like that. They understand
how hard it is to get that many hits. I
know I was happy to get one a night.”
I* * *
No matter how many starry-eyed
memories exist in the minds of kids
who are now adults, one thing remains
- Pete Rose is a gambling man.
Rose admitted on national televi
sion in 1989 that he was a compulsive
gambler. It was Rose’s gambling on
football games and allegedly gam
bling on baseball games that led
Giamatti to ban him from baseball for
life.
However, for the last 10 years
since being banned from Major
League Baseball fields, dugouts and
press boxes, Rose has continued to
deny ever gambling on baseball
games.
Despite Rose s denials, two base
ball commissioners, Vincent and Bud
Selig, have turned down Rose’s letters
for reinstatement. At 58, Rose still has
hope that he will be elected into
Cooperstown someday, but he doesn’t
waste his time worrying about it.
“I like to think (I will be),” Rose
told a group on CBS Sportline chat
May 12, 1999. “It would be the icing
on the cake. But as I sit here, I don’t
need a plaque in Cooperstown to tell
me what kind of player I was. But I
would appreciate it as much as anyone
ever has.”
Through the past 10 years, Rose
has remained defiant as ever, pushing
the limits of his banishment and being
outspoken against baseball officials
who won’t reinstate him.
But the commissioners since
Giamatti have stuck to his original
punishment.
“The matter of Mr. Rose is now
closed,” said Giamatti, the day after
banning Rose for life. “It will be
debated and discussed. Let no one
think it did not hurt baseball.
“The hurt will pass as the great
glory of the game asserts itself and a
resilient institution goes forward. Let
it also be clear that no individual is
superior to the game.”
Rose said he and Uiamatti stood
for the same things and the only differ
ence was that “I loved and cared for
the game a hell of a lot longer than he
did.”
As for ex-commissioner Vincent,
there was no way he was going to rein
state Rose after Giamatti died. In a
July 15,1998, Detroit Free Press arti
cle, Vincent said he opposed reinstate
ment for Rose.
“It’s time for Pete Rose to tell the
truth,” Vincent said. “The truth is, Pete
Rose bet on baseball. We have phone
records from the dugout and Pete’s
house to bookies. You can’t have peo
ple in the Hall of Fame who have cor
rupted the game.
“And gambling is a very serious
problem. It’s the biggest threat to the
integrity of the game.”
Rose argues that gambling pales in
comparison to some of the other
offenses players have committed.
“I’d have been better off if I’d
killed somebody,” Rose told the
Sacramento Bee in a May 29, 1999,
story. “I’d probably still be in baseball,
managing... or something. I never hurt
anyone, but if I had been a wife-beater
or a drug adcfict, baseball would have
paid for my rehab.
“It’s sad to say that, but there it is.”
Rose, whose primary occupation
now is a restaurant owner in Florida,
applied for reinstatement to baseball
in September 1997, but had to wait
nearly a year and a half to get a denial
from Selie.
In May 1999, Rose wasn’t sure he
ever was going to get a response.
“I know he’s not scared to answer
me - it’s yes or no,” said Rose on CBS
Sportsline. “He’ll go on TV and say it,
but not tell me. I know he can afford
the 35 cents. But we follow baseball,
we’re used to situations that are the
opposite of what the people want.
“But there is no bitterness on my
part. I made some mistakes, but I paid
for them. I don’t like to live in the past.
I can reminisce, but I don’t want to live
there. Seems like some people in base
ball have a harder time with that.”
While waiting for a decision to be
made earlier this year, Rose made spe
cial appearances at two Cincinnati
Reds minor league fields and in
Sacramento with the Steelheads, an
independent Western League team.
For $50,000, Rose served as a spe
cial hitting instructor for a day with the
Steelheads, ran two team workouts,
dined with team sponsors, signed
scores of autographs and as a bonus,
gave a motivational speech during
spring training. He also came back on
May 28 to throw out the first pitch for
the opening game.
Rose denied that the appearances
were done to draw attention to his rein
statement case.
“I’m not doing this for baseball,
I’m doing it for these young guys,”
Rose said in a May 11 Sacramento
Bee article. “These are the guys I real
ly respect. They’re still trying to make
it. They could have given it up a long
time ago. Knowing baseball as I do,
they probably think I am trying to rub
their noses in it.
“But its not the first time baseball
has criticized me, just for talking to
young players. I think it ticks them off
because whenever I go somewhere, it
sells out. Sure I want back in. I cold
manage again. I could help some team
Major league Records
—Most career hits (4,256)
—Most games played (3,562)
—Most at bats (14,053)
—Most singles (3,315)
—Most total bases by a switch hitter (5,752)
—Most seasons of 200 or more hits (10)
—Most consecutive seasons of 100 or more hits (23)
—Most seasons of 600 or more at bats (171
—Most seasons of 150 or more games (171
—Most seasons of 100 or more games (23)
—Only player in to play more than 500 games
at five different positions
—Played in most winning games (1,972)
Matt Haney/DN
become a champion. But right now, I
am having fun.”
***
If there is one baseball player who
has perfected the art of marketing him
self to the public, it would have to be
Pete Rose.
The night Rose was banned from
baseball he was on television promot
ing some of his own memorabilia. And
the appearances haven’t subsided.
Ten years removed from baseball
on Aug. 23, Rose has done everything
he can to stay in the public eye via web
chats, home shopping shows, baseball
card shows, public appearances, a
radio show, two restaurants and vari
ous other engagements.
Plus, Rose has had some help from
old friends who like to keep his name
in the public eye through a fan club
and most recently a museum just down
the street from the Hall of Fame in
Cooperstown, N. Y.
Not everything that has Rose’s
name on it is associated with him.
Take, for instance the American
Baseball Experience at Main Street
museum that was dedicated to Pete
Rose July 23 at Cooperstown. The
museum had featured a Mickey
Mantle display, but when he died last
year, the group wanted to recognize
another living player too, Greene said.
Rose, who had made appearances
in Cooperstown the last five years,
was their choice.
“They approached him and said
‘we would love to do something for
you,”’ Greene said. “Pete said, ‘I’m
flattered and honored.’ They were
charging a fee and wanted to give Pete
some of the proceeds. He donated the
money to cystic fibrosis.”
None or tne pjonts irom rnai
museum will go to Rose, Greene said.
Profits from sales at the official
Rose web site and fan club,
http://www.peterose.com, also don’t
go to Rose, Greene said. John
Esposito, an acquaintance of Rose’s, is
in charge the club. Rose signs the
items for free.
Greene got Rose into some busi
ness deals including opening two Pete
Rose Ballpark Cafe restaurants in
Florida. These restaurants have a col
lection of Rose’s record-breaking
memorabilia.
The Rose name is a draw in itself
because of the success he had in base
ball.
“Pete is terrific because he appeals
to everybody,” Greene said. “He fits
into a lot of categories for memorabil
ia. He played for three generations and
he also was a member of one of the
greatest teams in baseball.”
Plus it doesn’t hurt that Rose has
perfected what he does.
“Rose makes a lot of money,”
Greene said, “and he is very success
ful.”
“The public enjoys him because he
always has something to say,” said
Warren Greene, Rose’s Florida-based
agent for the last eight years. “Pete’s
career is making personal appear
ances, be it a card show, an automobile
convention or a speaking engage
ment.”
Rose is in high demand, Greene
said. He gets more than 500 media and
philanthropy requests a month.
Greene said Rose has been spending
more time with his family in
California lately, so he hasn’t been
doing as many events. When he does
make an appearance, Rose can make
anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000. He
also donates his time for charity
events.
At a Roger Craig Benefit Golf
Tournament earlier this summer, Rose
was the top autograph draw, said Dr.
J, J. Heavilin of Grand Island.
However, along with the high visi
bility, Rose has paid a price.