Timing of Pete Rose Interview Could Raise Ire of MLB

By Adam Hughes | Oct 18, 2014

Sep 28, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Former Cincinnati Reds great Pete Rose is acknowledged by the crowd during a game with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Reds won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

Pete Rose thinks he’s going to get into the Hall of Fame someday, dead or alive, according to an interview set to run on CBS News tomorrow morning. I tend to agree with the Hit King and still hold out hope that he finds his way to Cooperstown sooner rather than later, but Rose has this subtle way of digging at baseball that continues to derail his momentum. Case in point: picking this scab just days before the World Series is scheduled to start.

The Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants have treated baseball fans to a special October, with the Royals surprising everyone and the mediocre Giants turning on their jets once again in the autumn air. The last thing baseball wants is to open up part of its scandalous past, right at this shining moment.

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Pete has a history of tweaking MLB’s suits, of course, including the release of his 2004 book, My Prison Without Bars, to coincide with that year’s Hall of Fame elections. He followed that up with a book this spring that started getting noticed in January, again around the time of the HOF election.

According to former Philadelphia Phillies teammate, Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt, that stunt helped to derail a plan that Commissioner Bud Selig had in place to get Rose reinstated.

In between, Rose has taken all the shots he could at MLB through the press, while at the same time paying some lip service to playing nice-nice and putting it all behind him.

It’s not just Pete Rose who has tampered with Major League Baseball’s spotlight, though. New York Yankees third baseman/shortstop/DH/albatross Alex Rodriguez famously opted out of his $252-million contract during Game 4 of the 2007 World Series.

I have no proof of this, but it seems to me that’s about the time when A-Rod’s relationship with MLB really started to cool and he took a decidedly sharp turn down the path toward becoming A-Fraud, at least in baseball’s eyes and actions.

With Selig on his way out and Rob Manfred set to take the reins in January, Pete Rose should be in his best position yet to lobby for reinstatement. For that to come to pass, though, he needs to keep an eye on the clock.

At this time of year, especially this year, nobody puts KC in the corner.

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