Whatever it takes

Optimistic Rose ready to do what Selig asks to return

MACON, Ga. -- It wasn’t the cocky, defiant Pete Rose, thumbing his nose at the baseball lords. Stepping out of his self-imposed "media silence" on the subject, Rose sounded eager to make peace with commissioner Bud Selig in his bid for reinstatement.

And confident the day will come.

Before throwing out the first pitch prior to a Southeastern Professional Baseball League game, Rose acknowledged Thursday night that he’d made mistakes and said he was prepared to do whatever Selig asked in order to return to the game. Rose desperately wants to get back into the game and went so far as to offer his managerial services -- down the road, of course -- to an owner who shares his passion for winning and putting fannies in the seats.

Fourteen years ago this summer, the all-time hit king walked away from baseball when he signed an agreement accepting a lifetime ban. Rose long has lobbied for a second chance, but didn't have high hopes until meeting secretly with Selig in Milwaukee last November to discuss conditions of a possible return.

Discussion of his potential reinstatement was supposed to be off-limits Thursday, only Rose couldn’t contain himself. One minute he was talking about developing young players and what it takes to be a successful manager. The next, he was putting out job feelers.

"I’ll get in trouble when I say this," Rose said, nodding towards his agent, Warren Greene. "When I get reinstated, call me if you want to win and you want to put people in the seats. If you don’t want to do those two things, don’t even worry about calling me. That is all I want to do. That is all my goal is -- put people in the seats and win. And winning baseball creates people coming to the ballpark."

Asked if he expected owners to call should the day come, Rose paused, "I don’t know why they wouldn’t. I would if I were them."

Pete Rose on ... -- Fan support "I played for the fan. My whole career was concern for the fans. They got their monies worth. They went home with a good taste in their mouth. A lot of us on the Big Red Machine was like that, and that is why we were so good." -- Passion in the game "There is passion in certain areas. I don’t think that back in 1968 or 1969 that everybody in the National League was passionate. It wasn’t that way in ‘39. Wasn’t that way in ‘69. Wasn’t that way in ‘29 and won’t be that way in 2029. There are always gonna be jerks. You’re always gonna have some drug problems. Gambling problems. Alcohol problems. Domestic problems. It’s just society. It is just the way it is." -- The long ball "All we want to talk about is home runs, home runs, home runs. It is not the money. I made a couple million a year. Everybody just wants to get home runs and home runs and home runs. And they forget about that the home runs are better if you have two guys on. I watch the Reds every night. They’re second or third in the league in home runs and gonna set a record for striking out. The leadoff hitter is hitting .202. You can’t win like that." -- Approach to young hitters "Teach them how to hit. You got to teach these guys to understand that they are so big and strong today that the more they hit the more home runs they are gonna hit. It is common sense. If you strike out 160 times a year and bat 500 times, you only got 340 times or chance to hit the ball. Eliminate half of those strikeouts and now you got 400-some times to hit the ball. Just put the ball in play. "I mean if I had the Reds, I’d take Adam Dunn and take him to the cage every day and teach him how to hit. We all know he can hit home runs. Got to teach him how to hit." -- Missing the game "I am a teacher. I am a baseball person. I started playing baseball when I was eight years old and retired when I was 45, and I managed a couple more years. So what else do I know?" -- Eye on the games "I watch them all. I got the [baseball] package. And lucky for me, I live in LA so the games are on at 4 and over by 7, and then the Dodgers, Giants, San Diego and Arizona come on. Whatever games are on, I just go back and forth. And if one gets boring I watch the other."

But first things first, Rose has to get reinstated. There was a flurry of speculation that Selig was ready to make the move early this year, but the talk cooled after former commissioner Fay Vincent and Hall of Famers like Bob Feller spoke out against such a decision.

Ultimately, Rose expects to get the OK. A sign that he’s perhaps on the right path is the low profile he’s kept since meeting with Selig. After years of setting up shop in Cooperstown and signing autographs, Rose won’t be a distraction at this weekend’s Hall of Fame induction. Selig is expected to broach the subject with Hall of Famers while in Cooperstown.

"I think, first of all, you have to understand I think I have a pretty good relationship with Mr. Selig," Rose offered. "I do. It just took me a long time to meet him. I met him in Atlanta [at the 1999 World Series when Selig lifted the ban so Rose could appear with the All-Century Team], first time. I believe he is a fair man."

Even if the process might be testing his patience, Rose remains optimistic. The biggest factor in his favor is the overwhelming fan support.

"[Selig] knows I can help," he said. "He saw what happened in Atlanta [the applause for Rose’s introduction]. He saw what happened in San Francisco. He saw when I had my softball game [in Cincinnati last fall], I sold 42,000 tickets in two hours. Sold the place out. He knows I care about the game. He knows that I made some mistakes."

The mistake that keeps Rose, 62, out of the game is his alleged betting on baseball when he managed the Cincinnati Reds in the late 1980s. Evidence of his betting came from the Dowd Report, which was commissioned by baseball. To date, Rose has refused to acknowledge the claim and has denied under oath that he bet on games.

As for Selig possibly imposing public acknowledgement of his "mistakes" as a condition for reinstatement, Rose said: "Whatever he needs. He is the boss."

In the meantime, Rose is able to laugh about his predicament as he waits.

It was here that he last stepped on a minor league field, playing for the 1962 Macon Peaches. An appearance fee of about $25,000 brought him back for "Pete Rose Day." And the 75 or so VIPs paying a minimum $250 got to schmooze with him during a reception at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

When a sponsor’s cell phone rang during a closed-door gabfest with his fans, Rose good-naturedly cracked: "Get that, it might be Bud [Selig]."

Rose likely can win over the commissioner and the vocal opposition if he comes clean on the gambling allegations. No one doubts his accomplishments are worthy of the Hall of Fame, but even longtime friends like Dave Bristol admit he has to be straight.

Bristol managed Rose in Macon and later with the Cincinnati Reds. When Rose managed the Reds in 1989, Bristol served as his third-base coach. He knows Rose deserves his rightful spot in baseball, only he’s torn by the gambling allegations.

"Every manager reads Rule 21 [which prohibits betting on baseball] to every player," said Bristol, who drove five hours Thursday to be with Rose. "I’ve read it to Pete and he’s read it to his players. And there is no gambling. I mean that is one of the paramount things that you are indoctrinated with when you go into baseball.

"All of us had to go by that rule, damn it. If he did [bet on baseball], then fess up and come clean and he would be accepted back."

Bristol said he was driving with Rose in 1989 to a spring training game when news of the gambling investigation against him first broke. Three different times during the 1989 season, Bristol broached the subject with Rose. Each time Rose denied having bet on baseball. “I hope he is right," he said.

Who or what does he believe, Rose or the Dowd Report?

"I’ve read the Dowd Report, but I have heard [Rose] and he is very convincing," Bristol said. "The only thing that I can’t get through my mind [is] if he says he didn’t bet on baseball, then why did he take the [lifetime] penalty and not fight it to the dying breath? I don’t understand that."

Bristol and others worry that the 14-year battle is taking a toll on Rose. Rose is too strong-willed to show his angst, but friends know the stigma and being ostracized from the game eats away at him.

"Oh, it’s got to hurt him," said longtime friend Tommy Helms, another alumnus of the ’62 Macon team. "I’d just like to see him get to go to Cooperstown soon, instead of in maybe 20 years."

What continues to fuel Rose is the wide popularity and support he enjoys from the fans. It helps financially that he remains a popular draw at card shows and other public appearances.

And he’s obviously emboldened by the results of an ESPN mock trial last week, which found jurors by an 8-4 vote favoring his Hall of Fame enshrinement (79 percent of more than 300,000 respondents to an ESPN.com poll also supported his inclusion). However, when polled, 11 of 12 jurors said they believed Rose had bet on baseball.

"I think people understand that I understand I made some mistakes and I can’t change them," Rose said. "They already happened. And they are willing to give me a second chance. I haven’t been a whiner.

"People look up and they say, ‘Gee, that guy has been suspended since ’89. That is 14 years. That is a long time.’ For most people, enough is enough."

If only Bud Selig agrees.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for SI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Fish, click here.

 

Related information

Stories

Mike Fish: Albert Pujols, mystery man Mike Fish: Nike goes big game hunting Previous Mike Fish Columns

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video