The wide-ranging Pete Rose exhibit set to open at the Reds Hall of Fame next spring will focus exclusively on the past - specifically, Rose's 24-year playing career.
As is usually the case with the banned Hit King, though, there's an angle to be played. As Rose spoke on a conference call with Cincinnati media Tuesday afternoon, it wasn't difficult to imagine his best-case scenario:
The Reds unveil the largest exhibit they have assembled since the museum opened alongside Great American Ball Park in 2004.
Fans visit in droves from the March 10 opening into the spring, summer and fall. Major League Baseball, in the form of commissioner Bud Selig, decides maybe Rose could do some good for the game, particularly as Barry Bonds approaches and breaks its most cherished record. Rose finally returns to baseball as the clock ticks toward 18 years since he accepted a lifetime ban for gambling on the game.
Far-fetched? Perhaps, but in Rose's mind there's a chance it might play out that way, and he rushed to embrace it - thanking owner Bob Castellini several times in the process.
"I think they understand what I mean to the city of Cincinnati," Rose said of the team's new power structure.
"And of course they own the Cincinnati Reds and they understand their fans and they love their fans and they're doing something for their fans. If they do something for the fans and they mention my name, it's going to help me. All I can say is hopefully this will be a great exhibit and a lot of people will come through and see it and I think that will probably give baseball another reason to consider reinstating me.
"
According to Reds officials, the 2,000-square foot multimedia exhibit will not mention Rose's banishment from baseball. That occurred in 1989, when he was managing the Reds. The Reds Hall of Fame was very careful in specifying "all exhibits will detail Rose's career from 1963 to 1986," sidestepping any controversy that may have arisen in how the Hall chose to handle the expulsion of Cincinnati's favorite son.
"We see this exhibit as very much a celebration of Pete and his career," said Greg Rhodes, the hall's executive director, "a way for us to acknowledge the special characteristics that he brought to the playing field that made him such a great player and made him so beloved in Cincinnati."
The Reds asked for and received permission from Major League Baseball before moving forward with the exhibit. MLB didn't object to Rose attending a press conference originally scheduled for Tuesday, which was canceled because he came down with the flu.
Rose said he plans to visit the museum March 13, three days after the collection's grand opening.
"I'll probably camp out the night of the 12th," he said. "That's going to be an exciting day for me.
"
The exhibit will be heavy on memorabilia, including the bat and ball from Rose's 4,192nd career hit, the lineup card from that Sept. 11, 1985, game and the piece of Riverfront Stadium AstroTurf where his single off San Diego's Eric Show touched down. It also will include audio and video highlights, milestone bats and balls, game-worn jerseys and hundreds of baseball cards.
There will be plenty of fodder for reminiscing about Rose's glory days, but the exhibit also could serve to boost his public profile. His star has fallen since the publication in 2004 of his latest autobiography, "My Prison Without Bars," in which he admitted for the first time to gambling on baseball.
Rose acknowledged that Tuesday, noting that "everything kind of went haywire" after the book's release.
But he insisted his resolve to be reinstated by Major League Baseball remains as strong as ever.
"I don't think you ever give up on that," he said. "My philosophy is, you just try to do positive things.
This probably sounds funny, but I think today I'm the best ambassador baseball has. I'm constantly selling the game of baseball, talking positive about the game of baseball. It's hard to do in a lot of cases today with all the cases with the steroids and things going on.
"
He reiterated a primary talking point from recent years, saying it's more important for him to be able to work in baseball again than to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In fact, he said he would be an effective manager for a major league team.
"One thing I'll do is, I'll change the attitude around, just like Jimmy Leyland did (in Detroit), just like Lou Piniella will do in Chicago.
I'll change the attitude around for a team," he said. "I'll put more people in the seats. And you'll go up in the standings.
There's a lot of owners that don't know how to go about that, and I believe those are the things I bring to the table.
"Sure, there's always going to be the thing about what I did in the past, but I'm not concerned about that and I think there's a lot of owners that would know that that'd be the farthest thing from what I'd even think about doing, is be betting on baseball. If you can bring people in the stands and you can help them in the standings, I think there's a lot of guys that will give you a chance.
They'll give you chances if you do drugs. They give them chances if they beat their wives and if they drink excessively. Why wouldn't they give a guy a chance that had a gambling situation many, many years ago?
"
Of course, that's the same drum Rose has been beating for years, with no response from Selig. Now 65 years old, Rose is still hustling, hoping the latest celebration of his on-field achievements might be enough to turn the tide back in his favor.
"I made some mistakes and I was wrong, but a lot of people feel I've paid for those mistakes," he said.
"I've been suspended 17 years already and it's getting late.
News RSS