Sunday, July 25, 1999

Museum dedicated entirely to Rose

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Rose close to, but not in, Hall of Fame

BY TIM SULLIVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Pete Rose looks at memorbilia in a museum dedicated to him Friday in Cooperstown, N.Y. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Pete Rose has his place. It is one floor up, and one block away from the Baseball Hall of Fame. The distance could be covered by a long fly ball. The difference might as well be a million miles.

        The exiled Hit King has finally been immortalized in baseball's purported birthplace, but his new museum is an unsatisfying substitute for a small plaque in the shrine down the street.

        “You have to know Tom (Catal) to understand why he did it,” Rose told reporters Saturday.”

        “This is not a Hall of Fame for him,” said Catal, taking a break from the admission booth. “And he wants to get in. I think it's time to forgive him.”

        Barely a month before the 10th anniversary of Rose's negotiated banishment from baseball, Catal opened an extensive exhibit of Rose memorabilia in the space beneath his Mickey Mantle Museum earlier this month. The Pete Rose Museum is essentially a collection of signed souvenirs, and except for its scale not all that much different from many Rose-related recreation rooms in Cincinnati.

        But because of its location in Cooperstown, and the subject's cooperation in providing unique artifacts, the project could be perceived as a protest against Rose's exclusion from the Hall of Fame.

        “The controversy has been mainly in the media,” Catal said. “They feel this is slapping the Hall of Fame in the face. But a couple of people from the Hall of Fame have been in here — not the high-ranking officials, but others — and 99.9 percent of the people love it. I think it will go over, especially with Mickey and Pete together — the two greatest switch hitters of all time.”

        Catal, 52, is a former Atlanta Braves pitching prospect who prospered as a stock broker after injuring his back in an automobile accident. He moved to Cooperstown in the midst of the bull market and opened a memorabilia shop down the street from the Hall of Fame. He called it Mickey's Place, in honor of Mantle.

        Catal has since sold the store, but his association with Mantle on the autograph circuit inevitably placed him in Rose's company. After one false start, Catal sold Rose on the idea of making annual appearances in Cooperstown during Induction Weekend.

        Bob Feller, the Hall of Fame pitcher most openly opposed to Rose's enshrinement, shared a table with Charlie Hustle Saturday afternoon as they signed their names for cash. Rose's fee was $25 for flat items and balls and $60 for bats and jerseys, and eager customers stood in the sun as much as an hour to secure his signature.

        Business was less brisk at the Pete Rose Museum. Catal charges $4.95 for admission to both the Mantle and Rose floors, yet neither level had more than a handful of visitors at 11 o'clock Saturday morning. Both museums reflect an attention to detail that suggests Catal intends to be in business indefinitely. Many of the walls are hand-painted with baseball scenes.

        Catal did not start collecting Rose stuff until recently, but he has acquired a number of interesting items beside the standard trophies, photographs and advertising pieces. There is an autographed copy of the Dowd Report, an Ohio license plate that reads: HIT KNG, Rose's Gold Chamber club card from the Luxor casino in Las Vegas, and a commemorative bat from the 1984 All-Star Game in San Francisco, which Rose inscribed: “Sorry, I wasn't there.”

        Chuck Zawacki of Laurelville, Ohio had not made it to the Rose Museum as of Saturday morning, but he said he was planning to go. Standing in line for the Hall of Fame gift shop, Zawacki wore a straw hat with a sign that asked simply: “Where's Pete?”

        His application for reinstatement has been rejected out-of-hand by Commissioner Bud Selig, but the story does not die.

        “I've never met the man,” Rose said of Selig Saturday. “He says I haven't done anything to show I've changed. (But) I don't do any illegal gambling. I'm very careful about the people I hang out with and I've said I was sorry to every newspaper and on every TV show. What do they want me to do? Get down on my knees and beg?”

        Pete Rose was close enough to crawl his way to the Hall of Fame Saturday. Sadly, it's not that simple.

       

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