Make sure you're seated before proceeding further. The news I am about to tell you will shock, amaze and shake the foundation of everything you have ever known about sports.
Ladies and gentlemen, Pete Rose bet on baseball.
I know. I know. I couldn't believe it either. (If you are experiencing respiratory problems after learning of this earth-shattering news, please move away from the computer and lay down for at least one minute.)
It took about 58 years longer than most, but 62-year-old Pete Rose (see lifetime stats) has learned that honesty is the best policy, and this week is making his shocking confession that he laid some coin on Major League Baseball games while a manager of the Cincinnati Reds in the late '80s.
Rose, a 17-time All-Star, had a 44-game hitting streak in 1978 snapped 12 games short of Joe DiMaggio's all-time mark, but his streak of most consecutive years as Man With the Worst Haircut on Earth remains alive. He is also a bad liar.
Let's go back to the interview with NBC's Jim Gray before Game 2 of the 1999 World Series, when Rose was honored as a member of the All-Century team and received a warm reception from Braves fans, who, for whatever reason, decided to attend a postseason game for a change.
Gray: Pete, congratulations, it was quite an ovation.
Rose: Heart-stopping.
Gray: Pete, let me ask you now. It seems as though that there is an opening. The American public is very forgiving. Are you willing to show contrition, admit that you bet on baseball and make some sort of apology to that effect?
Rose: No, no, Jim, not at all. I'm not going to admit to something that didn't happen. I know you get tired of hearing me say that, but I appreciate the ovation. I appreciate the American fans voting me on that All-Century team. I'm just a small part of a big deal tonight.
Gray: With the overwhelming evidence that is in that report, why not make that step with this opening...
Rose: It's too much of a festive a night to worry about that. I don't know what evidence you're talking about. I mean, show it to me.
Gray: Well, the Dowd report says, but we don't want to debate that, Pete.
Rose: Well, why not? Why do we want to believe everything he says?
Gray: You signed a paper acknowledging the ban. Why did you sign it if you didn't agree with it?
Rose: It also says I can apply for reinstatement after one year, if you remember correctly. In the press conference, as a matter of fact, my statement was I can't wait for my little girl to be a year old so I can apply for reinstatement. At my press conference. So you forgot to add that clause that was in there.
Gray: Well, you have reapplied. You've applied for reinstatement in 1997. Have you heard back from Commissioner Selig?
Rose: No, and that kind of surprises me. It's only been two years, though, and he's got a lot of things on his mind. But I hope to someday.
Gray: Pete, it's been 10 years since you've been allowed on the field. Obviously, the approach that you have taken has not worked. Why not, at this point, take a different approach?
Rose: Well, when you say it hadn't worked, what do you exactly mean?
Gray: You're not allowed in baseball. You're not allowed to earn a living in the game you love. And you're not allowed to be in the Hall of Fame.
Rose: Well, I took that approach and that was to apply for reinstatement. I hope Bud Selig considers that and gives me an opportunity. I won't need a third chance. All I need is a second chance.
Gray: Pete, those who will hear this tonight will say that you have been your own worst enemy and continue to be. How do you respond to that?
Rose: In what way are you talking about?
Gray: By not acknowledging what seems to be overwhelming evidence.
Rose: Yeah, I'm surprised you're bombarding me like this. I mean I'm doing an interview with you on a great night, a great occasion, a great ovation. Everybody seems to be in a good mood, and you're bringing up something that happened 10 years ago.
Gray: I bring it up because I think people would like to see you get it on. Pete, we got to go, we've got a game...
Rose: This is a prosecutor's brief. It's not an interview, and I'm very surprised at you. I am, really.
Gray: Well, Some would be surprised that you didn't take the opportunity. Let's go.....
Gray took a lot of heat from media and fans for his aggressiveness, but I thought was a great American moment: asking a phony to be forthcoming. You might recall Yankees outfielder Chad Curtis refusing to speak to Gray after hitting a walkoff home run in Game 3 of the Series. I thought it was a dumb protest then, and that certainly hasn't changed now.
I love the part where Pete says, "I'm not going to admit to something that didn't happen." Maybe he should've added, "unless you pay $17.47 + shipping on Amazon.com for my new book, My Prison Without Bars."
But this is America. We love to give people a second chance. It makes everyone feel good. It's a mystery why it took Rose so long to figure out this was, by far, the best of his options. Then again, he does find it acceptable to walk out of his house with that haircut.
Other Pete Rose Links:
• Vote: What Now for Pete Rose? — See how your opinions on 10 Rose-related questions rank with other fans on ESPN SportsNation.
• The Confessions of Pete Rose — Fay Vincent, the baseball commissioner who succeeded Bart Giamati, cautions us in a New York Times op-ed against embracing Rose, whom he says, "spent the last 14 years calling John Dowd and me names."
• Put Rose in Hall, Not in a Dugout — Ian O'Connor writes in USA Today that Rose "lies for a living" and "has forfeited the right to be a manager, a coach, a scout, or spring training instructor."
• Rose Still Faces Long Odds on Getting to Hall of Fame — An AP story on Rose's eligibility for Cooperstown.
If Pete Rose is somehow, by some unknowable reason, reinstated and then elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, it will be a slap in the face to A. Bartlett Giamatti- and all of baseball.
To quote the article in the NYTimes, "Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball in August 1989 under an agreement in which he was ousted for illegal gambling without baseball being specified." He agreed. Now, after scorching John Dowd for 14 years for (as it turns out) an accurate investigative report, after lying to the fans, his teammates, the author of his first autobiography (who says he is embarrassed- that he had asked Rose "20 times" if he had betted on baseball and that Rose had looked him in the eye and said he hadn't)...after all that, he is hoping for reinstatement and election to the Baseball Hall of Fame?
The rules for election into the Hall of Fame include this portion: "voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."
Dream on, Rose.
Posted by lucy at January 6, 2004 1:28 AM