Pete Rose - 1985 Phil Donahue Show - 4192 Hits

ladies and gentlemen I am proud to greet you from one of the most important parts of the heart of your great nation this is Cincinnati [Applause] Ohio [Applause] ladies and gentlemen ladies and gentlemen it is my uh once in a lifetime honor to present the greatest player in the history of baseball Pete [Applause] [Music] Road [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] w [Music] [Applause] well this is well I'll tell you this uh in a world uh where there are so many distracting headlines this is to be sure a thrilling experience to be surrounded by so many happy people uh and please let me say very sincerely that what you did uh last night at Riverfront stadium was just a an a unique outstanding magnificent achievement for which this city and my president has already expressed the Gratitude and admiration of the nation so let us add that to you now let me uh let me [Music] uh this must this has got to make you a little bit uncomfortable uh Pete uh certainly you understand the attention you're receiving are you surprised at all by its intent The Passion of the excitement that you've generated [Applause] here just got one little base hit pet I want to ask you a question first of all I'm a hooer and I'm glad you married a hooer uh I want to know what your secret is to your longevity I mean there's not many guys your age can run and play the game like you do well they introduced me to wheedies and that took thanks for your understanding um I graduated from Western Hills High School and I'd like to know what is your fondest memory of West High F fondest memory of Western Hill well it took me 5 years to get out of [Applause] there but they let me play baseball for three of them so I I guess um my memories of uh what high school would have to be playing football against Elder we beat him uh Pete Phil I don't have a question but sit down then you just but I just but I just want to say there's a an ad you will not see in the One ads in the paper no one will advertise for a manager for the next 50 years for the Cincinnati Red you beat t cobs record you've done everything what's next for you now well manage for next 50 years I guess uh for those of you who uh well sir you wanted to say let me just show one more time uh the moment at Riverfront as we tape uh this happened last night roll that if you will please here is Pete Rose first at thatat if you have a lump in your throat you're only human and and it's two balls one strike on Rose everybody on their feet here in Cincinnati and a worldwide television audience watching these moments tonight here at Riverfront Stadium 2-1 pitch from Sha [Music] [Applause] you [Applause] yes um I was just wondering about your hair in the back if your Barber forgot to cut it or [Applause] what' you say she wondered about your haircut TR my haircut oh she forgot to cut it off back here oh Pete I wanted to say that when Cincinnati saw the tears in your eyes last night we shared those tears with you that was wonderful you must have felt very very helpless after that uh are do I understand you to have said uh it's the first time you didn't know what to do in a baseball game I want nobody to talk to and doggy and Davey took off went back their Dugout the guy took the base large part the car too far for me to lean on P there's a lot of Peaks and valleys in a major league career was there any time in your career where you felt like you might have to hang up the spikes no not really um that's how baseball is is highs and lows and uh all my highs or lows are in world series competition or playoff competition um obviously when you lose like we did in 73 like we did in 70 and 72 uh we're lows uh then we won in 75 and 76 we're highs we won in 80 in Philadelphia was a high one 83 uh was a high so you don't worry about the games that you play during the season because you play so many of them and a lot of good things happen a lot of bad things happen but really uh what you play for is the right to go to the playoffs and then hopefully you win the last game you play yeah that makes you a world champion what happened to the ball that you hit the hit with uh I give it to pach J to asked him what' you do with the ball son I think he's going to pay for his college education with it bill I mean he's going to buy a college with it I'd like to ask Pete if he'd like for Pete Jr to break his record yeah I think so um if it was going to be broken I hope he does yeah but but something to shoot for what it's something to shoot for but I are we to assume that you hesitated is that because the the pressure that attended all this I mean I assume there's some things about what happened to you in terms of media and so on that you wouldn't want to inflict on somebody else I like uh I I don't think I ever worried about that with him uh because I was a pretty good player when he was born and if I was worried about that I want to name you Pete Rose hi P I don't have a question either but I just want to say today when our young people need Heroes and this is one situation where it shows a lot of hard work your dreams can come true I think it's wonderful for our young people well thank you uh Pete let's just for a moment uh try and go over some old what I know is old ground for you uh I don't think there's you must have become almost a tao biographer over the past uh several years I'm sure you know more about him than certainly the average person now I want to respect his loved ones and we certainly want to honor his memory but I don't think there's a lawsuit in my suggesting out loud that he was apparently a cranky angry miserable son of a gun is that your understanding well I can't honestly say that because uh most of the things that I learned about Tai Cobb I learned through W Hoy before he passed away a year ago uh L fona who used to be a hitting coach here is in Chicago now who played against taob and there's no question that he was a very very mean man and from what they tell me mean in the respect a fighting mean very rugged individual um at no time did either one of those Fells ever say to me uh what kind of fell he was off the field so because of that uh most of the things that you hear or read about uh can be blown out of proportion and so I don't really like to comment on what kind of guy he was off the field now I know I read where he was 80 years old and had a fight with the electric company and didn't pay his bill and he turned his electric off for two two two years in a row he was a millionaire uh I read where uh he called his Banker at 3:00 in the morning one time uh because he fired one of his maids and he wanted him to cancel a check he had wrote for $43 he made the banker do it at 3:00 in the morning uh so I don't know if the things are if if these things are true or not and uh I don't think it's really fair to you know to say something about somebody you really didn't know as an individual uh ALS you see I can't imagine a a gentleman sitting there uh sharpening the spikes I mean um can you doggy how the hell can we do that today they're made out of rubber so I mean I just can't imagine a man doing the things that the right I you want to hear you want to hear a good story about him about cob yeah I got some good story by this give you some type of uh understanding what kind of guy he was well one story is u in the old days in Yankee Stadium they didn't have uh you had to go through the Yankee Dugout if you were a visitor a visiting player to get to the uh visitor's Dugout and one time Tai cob was sitting in Yankees Dugout watching batting practice and this guy from the Yankees said why don't you get your own Dugout you no good son of a buck so he got up and he went and his Dugout and all of a sudden batting practice started for the Detroit Tigers and in those days he didn't have batting cages uh he jumped in the Box first and he wasn't supposed to be the first hitter and he was such a good hitter that the opposition always watched him take batting practice so he jumped in there first like I said and the batting practice started and he hit the next 15 balls in the Yankee Dugout we are in Cincinnati with pet Rose and will'll be back in just a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] moment behavioral uh [Applause] behavioral scientists everywhere will be thrilled to see Pete Rose uh crying uh on the occasion of this uh historic event last night for the reason that uh the suggestion is that males have been encouraged to keep all this in I remember when you got hit with a pitch you weren't supposed to even rub it remember that and they say that's not good for us and Pete has honest to say that uh in his adulthood the only other time he cried was on the occasion of his father's death let me just bear up one more time Pete while I share that moment with this audience here is uh just a piece of videotape from the uh game last night after he got his hit and broke Tai cobs record just breathe it in I think the real thing he's doing there is giv a finally giv a s relief because no matter what you say it would had to be building on him because so many people are pulling for him and wanted him to get this base hit that he just wants to get out of the way I think it's easy to imagine what goes through our mind at this moment boy this is his game it's his town and is his moment Tommy Helms his roommate when both played here together in Cincinnati and they started off together in the minor Le so Tommy has the same type of feeling for Pete that his family does and Sun py Jr that's uh now let me let's talk about this for a second this is a terrible invasion of privacy to be sure but it's your fault for doing for breaking the record uh H how do you how do you diagnose your feelings last night and how do you explain this uh tremendous release release of emotion from a guy who is not famous for Crime I wasn't crying I was just teasing I I sort of got a kick out of for about the last week and a half you know been a couple hundred Riders uh traveling around with us and before every game uh we have a press conference of like 45 minutes and after the game and a lot of them actually asked me a week ago how how how you going to feel when you get the hit I had no idea how I was going to feel because uh uh I had no idea how I was going to feel I walked in here today because uh in any situation like that um the fans are going to create the feeling and uh that's obviously why you I knew the feeling would mean a lot more across the street than wle field well but I'll tell you this they went nuts at Wrigley Field uh the the point is you but they went nuts but I guarantee you if I had got that hit there wouldn't have been anybody crying in that in that ballpark so it's about it's about Roots then roots and Boyhood and the river and uh your was a 50,000 people there last night uh I've probably had iced tea with 35,000 of them all [Applause] right two of my favorite uh Sportsmen was Ernie Lombardi and Pete Rose I want to know if you had the privilege of playing with Ernie Lombardi playing with him yes yeah I must be [Applause] old I didn't even have the privilege of watching him play but I had I did have the privilege of meeting the man though I knew Ernie Lombardi when when he worked at the Ballpark at Kel stick Park uh when I first uh joined the the national league very good player very tremendous player Pete I wanted to make a few comments you don't we haven't got it's an hour show so you'll be real Okay the reason I think Pete Rose is a better all around hitter than Tai Cobb going to the technical aspect of the game in those days the the fielders had much smaller gloves the outfielders uh were not near as uh athletic and fast and developed and so forth as today's the Astra Turf has to make it easier for the guys to feel the ball there's no comparison Rose is better and and you you didn't have uh relief pctures as we know that's uh that's you really don't do it that way because uh you know Tai cob probably was the greatest hitter ever to play based on his three 367 lifetime average I don't care what league you're playing in if you had 367 you know take it from me as a baseball player um and you you really can't judge him because he excelled against the people he had to play against and I have did well against the people in my competition I had to play against and there's no question that if I played back in the 20s uh that I could be a real good hitter uh if cob played today he probably only hit 330 but he's 98 years old he'd be 98 years old and it you can you can lose the battle it's just the same same comparison of of trying to say that that Babe Ruth was better than Henry Aaron or Henry Aaron is better than Babe Ruth you got to forgive us though for for thinking about it sure and I understand that but I just think it's a losing uh it's a losing battle and you know if his uh his Outfield hits would not drop in today first of all he played in in a league I guess I do sound like uh Andy cin and it is true he must have been one magnificent uh fellow with his spatial ver his skills as an athlete but uh it was it was not an integrated league in which he played so you had all that Talent of color that never got to play against him uh I think that's a significant difference between his game and yours well there's a lot of differences but uh I just I I I really don't like to compare the see as far as I'm concerned uh I I think the the greatest player ever to play the game of baseball was Babe Ruth and the reason I say this is Babe Ruth used to go into towns and play a three or four game series and he actually saved franchise after franchise because of the attendance when he played the games and because of him saving the franchises it enabled baseball to keep going and it's given us all the opportunity to play the game of baseball yeah Pete Pete where was your daughter at last night where was my daughter at she was about two rows behind my wife maybe one if you don't know where to look for it's hard to pick her out among 50,000 people yes pH they gave you a set of silver last night with 12 cups for every other record you've broken what are some of those other records hey I'm Pete I'm not Phil pal Phil's up there Phil they give you 12 cups last night uh most hits by a switch hitter most uh singles most well Mar presented that to me but she really hadn't given it to me yet so I don't know what it says on there just like they give me the keys to the car I haven't found a car yet H I walked home from the ballpark last night that's why I'm so tired Pete I know uh Sparky Anderson had a great influence on you have you heard from him I heard from him about a week ago um he was a big influence on me he's he's got to be the most successful manager I ever played for I learned a lot about what I think handling people from spark I didn't learn a damn thing from Sparky about hitting right doggy can you find us we're way up here sir not much time uh Peter I've been admire you for many a year and one thing that I'm very proud that you always recognized your fellow players you have been like that all of your years thank you and many many love okay all right I don't forget now last time we were hearing you ask a lady a question about first she got on my underwear so be careful up there I would just like to say last night I work in a health care facility here in Cincinnati and you generated so much excitement and those older people last night that I can't tell you I mean they were telling me stories about when you first played and the memories were just coming back and I want to just say thank you for them thank you and we'll be back in Cincinnati with Pete Rose in just a [Music] [Applause] [Music] moment we are in Cincinnati with Pete Rose and I had a want to make sure I got everybody right here I lost my uh let me let me just say that we can't guarantee everybody a foul ball and you know when you get to when you get one it's a lifetime experience what I've asked Pete to do is sign uh some baseballs here so we think we've got you a pretty nice souvenir uh I don't know hold on this there's no fair way to do this up there you [Applause] ready all right [Applause] not give him away there you go all right we got some more I don't know how else to do it you got a question Pete I have a question for Pete Jr I've got a six-year-old daughter that you could train real well if you if you'd like to train her and and I'd love to be related to this guy but Pete a lot of people said that that you don't have uh natural Talent can can you th their nose at him today no I I think they're right in some respect when they say natural Talent right away they're thinking U Roberto CL well they're thinking that you don't have the speed of a Tim Reigns or you don't have an arm of a rocky Cito uh so a lot of people don't have that uh you know but you have other things that uh make up for a lack of talent I have good eyes uh I have good hands and my hand coordination is good and uh Perez is the same way I mean uh the only differ he's 43 I'm 44 who do you think you'll name your next child after who will you name the next child after uh is there one on the way I don't know the skill level of your son and baseball but if he didn't have the skill that you felt would make him a real successful player would you be objective enough to steer him in a different career oh I I I you know I don't force baseball upon my son uh I think it's just the easiest way in the world to make a living and he just happens to have some pretty good talent a lot more than I had when I was 15 years old plus he's like every other athlete today he's going to be bigger and stronger probably quicker uh and all I can do is expose him to the world of baseball and I think he has a a big Advantage as far as being able to go to the ballpark and watching the best players in the world play every day and taking ground balls with the best players in the world and if that rubs off on him he's got a good chance Eduardo Perez and Victor the same way and all you can do is expose I'd rather him be down there taking ground balls on the aser Turf and walking around on the streets at night besides your father who do you think that's helped you the most in your 23 years what person um I mean as far as developing baseball talents probably my mother and my uncle my uncle was a scout for the Reds who signed me to a contract and um see that's the thing about staying in first base you don't want to start thanking people because you don't have enough time you know when you play Big League Baseball for 23 years you B 15,000 times uh obviously there's more than one or two people to thank um hell I played baseball in 1960 when I got out of Western HS high school and joined the Geneva Reds and Tony Perez was a second baseman on that team and he was just too much I was two months uh U he was two months out of Cuba that's how far back Tony Perez and I go so we sort of watched each other grow and we grew together uh let's let's make this official uh we are pleased to uh have at hand two of your closest friends Pete here are Tony and puka Perez would you kindly both [Applause] stand you know Phil a lot of people don't realize but there's been a lot of great Latin players play the game of baseball obviously uh an Tony only needs three more home runs to be the all-time home run King for Latin ball play all he's got to do is be able to crack the lineup I think I'm not letting him play t night cuz I am tired right now I had no sleep last night are you thinking of taking yourself out of the lineup tonight I don't look at it like that I'm thinking about putting Tony in the lineup that's where I look at my sister zy Red's fan and Haley Idaho her name's Mary she called me 2 o'cl this morning and said give Pete my best so it's for Mary Idaho Pete it broke my heart when you left Cincinnati did you always know you would be back honey it broke my heart too no I'll be honest with you I I as long as the people who were running the ball Club when I left uh were still with the ball Club I didn't think I'd ever come back see I I had never convinced myself that the fans wanted me to leave or my teammates wanted me to leave or people who worked at the ball wanted me to leave but um you know once I convinced myself that the people who run the ball Club no longer wanted my services it was very easy to leave because you don't want to work for someone if they don't like you or respect you but I'm happy to be back now Pete thanks for all the memories but there's one lady over in the crowd that we need to thank right there Mart shot Mark stand up you know with all the uh talk it's not possible to own a baseball franchise today without getting yourself interviewed good upside down everywhere they want to know about drugs about money about trades about television uh revenue and so on this has been something I imagine you are you must be a very exhausted woman but a very happy one uh March are you going to make money this year who cares well it couldn't have uh I should yes thank you I'll be happy to wear that he must have scared you to death Mark you know he you knew you were dealing with a ball player here was capable of of breaking the record in in Chicago I mean apparently this guy has this crazy idea of the game comes first you must have been nuts 50 more years I'm going to have of this with him he you're here to tell us that your heart was totally into trying to get a hit the last time at thatat that Wrigley Field after yeah but I couldn't see a damn thing so I wasn't worried about it dark I couldn't even see Lee Smith he's 6'6 uh but you were trying to get a hit you would have broken this town's heart you had I hit a ball right on the nose the fourth time up to the short stop if it had been two steps over we wouldn't be sitting here today listen to that well I thank you for the Hat what do you think I'm over here yeah all right hang on yes I just want to ask Pete how he uh slept last night or with the Ecstasy of the feeling that you had it was a high Euphoria of trying to calm down well first of all um I didn't I didn't leave the ballpark till about quarter two uh then from the ballpark uh we went to the precinct to eat cuz I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast so then I got home about uh4 to 4 and I had to get up at 6:00 to do to today and Good Morning America and CBS and you ask me how I slept pee like a dog named shsi hey Mr Donahue you and several other people who are older seem to have great energy how can you keep up with these younger people how can you go and beat them and prove that you're better it amazes me [Applause] too we've we've cut down on other activities honey we are in Cincinnati with Pete Rose and we'll be back in just a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] moment uh pety Rose probably got some more attention than uh any young man would want especially at this age but we are all impressed with the way you've handled the heat here of your father's uh Celebrity Status especially over the past sum how old are you Pete 15 and I uh do you switch here no I just have leftand uh did you talk about that to your dad or uh certainly must your father encouraged you to switch H father and uncle right uh you just don't want to or you you were too far gone as a left-handed owner by the time you thought about it just told me you know learn how to hit one way good and then you know he had he hadn't convinced me he needs to be a switch hitter Stam usual wouldn't a switch hitter uh Babe Ruth was a switch hitter what determines whether you need to be if he has problems with left-handers uhhuh see Perez don't have trouble with right-hander so you don't have to switch it how would your father know you did and when did he begin how old were you when well he didn't know if I could or not but he just decided because my uncle was a professional ball player and he didn't have his big biggest success in the game of baseball until the age 30 when he became a switcher so they thought it was sort of a a neat situation let me someone asked about your record uh let's put this up David here are just some of the uh Records that Pete Rose has set in his career as a major leager uh and highlights Most Valuable Player of the decade in the 70s how's that all-time Major League record for most seasons of 200 or more hits that's that's especially impressive I mean you Tred get 200 hits uh against major league pitching most games played do you know how many that might be Pete how many games have you played over 3,500 uh most times at B most singles that's a lot of national anthems isn't it I'll say most hits by a switch hitter you must have seen that sung every way uh including sideways uh and you must have also been there when the lyrics have been forgotten on more than one occasion didn't we let's see last year my took me 22 years I finally learned the words uh how do you know I learned a Canadian one too I heard it twice you know we doubled up last year when I played for Montreal right doggy you got to learn them both you got to stand out there for 7 minutes every night it's fun though I'll bet you couldn't I'll bet you couldn't could you recite the words to the national anthem you don't have to sing it just recite them I'd rather sing it [Applause] but yes yes yes yeah I'm trying to get way back here where are he likes that area up there doesn't he Pete I'd like to know your um opinion on all these high school athletes that are turning pro do you think that such a good idea or do you think college education is more important I think it's all right man [Applause] Hey listen I'm going to be the first one to tell you if you can get an education to get it that's the only thing I would do over again if I had to do my whole life over it i' try to further my education U fortunately for me uh I prove that you don't have to have a lot of brains and make a lot of money but that doesn't happen to everybody and uh if you have the opportunity to go to college go to college and then Pete this is a comment not a question I don't like baseball but I think after this I will thank you I tell you what honey Tuesday night when I went over four we lost I didn't like baseball neither but then Ruben told me to start having fun again so I got a hit last night I love but baseball been very very good to me um what do you like what sport do you like yeah what uh let me show you uh just let's go down memory lane here for just a moment these are some of the highlights of your career brother Pete to so bear up one this is the collision with Bob fossy in the 1970 allstar game remember this watch out watch out bang um this surprised everybody uh it took a lot of people a long time to uh some people a long time to come to the conclusion that first this was a clean play second Pete Rose plays I start a slide right there and he had the plate block you were going to slide and he you mess with the bll you get the horns this is a great catch list watch this catch watch this catch nice this is uh this the World Series that's the 75y old series in Boston that was game seven of the World Series 1975 when Joe Morgan knocked in the winning run I was on first base and I went to Third Base that was the first time we' become world champion this is a hit this is this is a hit in the 38th consecutive game you almost broke Joe de maio's 56 game straight that's uh that is uh another record that we probably ought to mention here you hit in 44 consecutive games that's when you got accustomed to being hounded by media did you offer anybody a one-on-one interview during this whole uh all this heat oh certainly but uh Jimmy Ferguson our PR director uh really handled it perfectly and we learned from the hitting streak in 78 how to handle the press and uh we got along with them great and uh we handled some one-on ones until it got down to single digits and we did it uh as everyone I want to thank bill burgish as well vice president of the Reds for all his cooperation this has been something Jimmy Fergus has been very good to us as well and a whole lot of other folks thank you Channel 5 for all your cooperation here in Cincinnati uh let me get this in did you you said Sandy kofax was the hardest thrower it was Juan marelle the toughest pitcher you ever faced and promotional fees by the following

Channel: Head First Videos

Views: 23,593

Keywords: Pete Rose (Baseball Player), The Phil Donahue Show (TV Program)

Id: v4Eo-YqxO5E

Length: 44min 27sec (2667 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 07 2014