Should Pete Rose Be in the Baseball Hall Of Fame? (1994) — Transcript

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1. 0:00You're a legend. What is a legend? Well,
2. 0:02a legend is a guy who
3. 0:04has some form of accomplishment.
4. 0:06the sport that he plays or whatever
5. 0:09medium he's in.
6. 0:10is a legend made? I would say so, yeah.
7. 0:11Yes. What's your story? I mean, you were
8. 0:13a real man when you were a kid.
9. 0:15you had all this incredible talent?
10. 0:17When you were a kid. Well, you know,
11. 0:19believe it or not, when I was a kid, I
12. 0:20was a better football player than I was
13. 0:22a baseball player.
14. 0:22I can see that. You're short and stocky.
15. 0:24Yeah, but
16. 0:25uh because my father was a football
17. 0:26player and he wanted me to follow in his
18. 0:28footsteps and uh
19. 0:29to be honest with you, it was my
20. 0:30mistake. I just didn't like school or I
21. 0:32would have went to college.
22. 0:33Yeah. Pete's now a radio guy. Mhm, I
23. 0:35didn't know that.
24. 0:36What, they threw you out of baseball?
25. 0:37Yeah. Yeah. What, what, for gambling or
26. 0:39something?
27. 0:40Well,
28. 0:41even playing. Why did they throw you out
29. 0:42of baseball?
30. 0:42I was See, I I'm glad he didn't follow
31. 0:44the case because uh
32. 0:45I really didn't.
33. 0:46more adverse to what's going on than
34. 0:48most people because uh he wasn't
35. 0:49brainwashed. That's right.
36. 0:51to it's it's hard to brainwash somebody.
37. 0:53his brain.
38. 0:54it, Gary?
39. 0:54Wash it. Speaking of brainwashing,
40. 0:56I was going to help you out with some of
41. 0:57the sports stuff. Pete wasn't um wasn't
42. 0:59playing, but he was managing. Oh, you
43. 1:00were managing.
44. 1:01All right. The gambling issue is one
45. 1:03where they think that you're going to
46. 1:04then throw the game or something. That's
47. 1:06what that was the issue with that.
48. 1:07for baseball for many and I've been on
49. 1:08the Super Bowl, Howard.
50. 1:09Right.
51. 1:10All right.
52. 1:10Yeah, yeah.
53. 1:11Nothing more, nothing less. But, I was
54. 1:12the only guy that you could bet on the
55. 1:13Super Bowl. Yeah, and who would and who
56. 1:15would know and who would know
57. 1:16anything against the game.
58. 1:17I know. And all anybody's got to do is
59. 1:19analyze and and and and look at my
60. 1:21record playing a game of baseball or
61. 1:23managing a game of baseball and there's
62. 1:24nothing crooked there.
63. 1:25How much fun is it to be a professional
64. 1:27athlete? I mean, you get to hang around
65. 1:28with guys. You hang around with guys.
66. 1:29You go out and play a game. Yeah, you
67. 1:31can drink and stuff, eat all you want
68. 1:32cuz you get exercise the next day. It's
69. 1:34first class. I mean, It's unbelievable.
70. 1:36That's That's the problem I think with
71. 1:37athletes today. It's the limousines,
72. 1:39it's jet planes, it's private jets. Is
73. 1:41it a horrible let down though when your
74. 1:43career is over and you're done?
75. 1:44Not not at all because uh you got to
76. 1:46remember, I played I played longer than
77. 1:48anybody. I played 24 years. So, I How
78. 1:50selfish would I be to say, "I wish I
79. 1:51still was playing." I mean, I was in it,
80. 1:53I was a manager, uh I run the show, and
81. 1:55and as you can imagine, just reading the
82. 1:57papers today, it's a lot harder. It's a
83. 1:59lot harder to manage today than it was
84. 2:01in the '70s or the '60s because of the
85. 2:03the amount of money the athletes make.
86. 2:05So, now you're out of baseball
87. 2:06completely. That's it. Any chance and
88. 2:08you don't want to get back in. Even if
89. 2:09they if they said to you tomorrow you
90. 2:10could get back in, would you care? No,
91. 2:12because
92. 2:13No, no, no.
93. 2:14I'm a fan.
94. 2:14that was like the lowest point in your
95. 2:15life, but at the same point, now that
96. 2:17you're back on top, what do you care?
97. 2:18Well, it wasn't the lowest point. It was
98. 2:20exciting for me because I had so many
99. 2:21great young players come through when I
100. 2:23was manager, but Uh Listen, you should
101. 2:25be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
102. 2:26Whatever your problems were in the past,
103. 2:29Yeah.
104. 2:29What is up?
105. 2:30Did they have anything to do with what
106. 2:32he did on the field? That's
107. 2:33to do with what you did on the field.
108. 2:34Your record has to be recognized. It
109. 2:36doesn't Listen, you could go to any
110. 2:38baseball player in this country and you
111. 2:40can find out all kind of things about
112. 2:42him. Listen, baseball play Exactly. So,
113. 2:44the point is, but your record stands.
114. 2:46It's a a fantastic record. You should be
115. 2:48in the Hall of Fame. End of it.
116. 2:50Do you find uh do you find yourself
117. 2:51under any scrutiny from media? What?
118. 2:53Please.
119. 2:54Please. I don't give a damn.
120. 2:55I could give a rat's ass what they say
121. 2:57about me. I'm sitting here making a
122. 2:58living.
123. 2:59even playing anyway. You think the media
124. 3:00is right there? You think that they're
125. 3:01all
126. 3:02is like that because
127. 3:03frustrated cuz of the money they don't
128. 3:04make.
129. 3:04No, because they're looking for news.
130. 3:05They got to fill a newspaper every day.
131. 3:07This This stuff is
132. 3:08negative things uh get more They sell
133. 3:11more papers than positive things.
134. 3:12news when Pete Rose is gambling. That is
135. 3:15big news. He's right because when uh I
136. 3:17had the anniversary in in August of
137. 3:19being suspended for 5 years, it had two
138. 3:21pages in USA Today. When I had the
139. 3:23anniversary for 5 years for breaking a
140. 3:25record, it had a one little paragraph.
141. 3:27Right. You know You know who Pete's
142. 3:29worst enemy is, really? It's the sports
143. 3:30writers. It's like these
144. 3:31holier-than-thou guys and they write
145. 3:33these articles that Pete shouldn't be in
146. 3:34the Hall of Fame, but you're right
147. 3:35because whatever he did on the field
148. 3:37that vote though. That's the problem.
149. 3:38They're the ones that vote.
150. 3:39That's how you get in. Yeah, sport
151. 3:40writers sport writers vote you in. Well,
152. 3:41they have like 400 and 425 of them,
153. 3:43Howard, and you need 75% of the votes to
154. 3:46get in.
155. 3:46And they are so pompous that they feel
156. 3:48that they you have to have a you have to
157. 3:49have this impeccable
158. 3:51Some of them are purists. Baseball
159. 3:52purists.
160. 3:53And Howard, you're right. You're talking
161. 3:53about guys that might make $500 a week.
162. 3:56That's right. Look Look what I've made
163. 3:58for you. I want to hand this to you now.
164. 3:59It's a plaque. It says Hall of Fame Hall
165. 4:01of Fame plaque. Look at it, Robin. Pete
166. 4:02Rose.
167. 4:03You're giving him your own. Played 24
168. 4:05years. Charlie Hustle. Look at it. There
169. 4:07it is.
170. 4:08And uh you're going to hang this in your
171. 4:10restaurant, all right? It's for you and
172. 4:11I hope you take it with you and then
173. 4:13you'll There it is. Believe me,
174. 4:15there's your Hall of Fame. I voted you
175. 4:16in. There you go.
176. 4:17Thanks, Howard.