It’s just like if you go to Cooperstown right now, there’s 15 of my artifacts in the Hall of Fame. You walk in the commissioner’s office, in New York, [and] they got a board with hits, games, at-bats. My name’s at the top of all of them.
I didn’t cheat to get all those records. You know, like a lot of guys are doing the last 10 years. I didn’t cheat at all. I [messed] up, but I didn’t cheat. I didn’t cheat the game.
What I did, it was wrong, but what I did is a little bit like the jockey on No. 2 in the Kentucky Derby betting on his own horse. Not betting on No. 1; betting on No. 2. [He’s] going to do everything in his power to try to win that race. That’s all I did every night as a manager — I tried to win to win every frickin’ game.
I know, I know. He gambled on baseball when he was managing the Reds. May even have bet on some of the games he was coaching. (OK, he did bet on his team, but he bet to win. TO WIN!!) I’m sorry… he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
It’s not a shrine, it’s a museum. I don’t care that he bet on baseball. I don’t care that he bet on the Reds. I’d rather see Rose in the Hall than A-rod. Rose deserves to be there, and long before they put him into some old pine box.
Pete Rose: A Living Legend, Off The Record | Via NPRNews