Monday, April 03, 2000
Morgan wants Rose on field with Big Red Machine
Hall of Famer frustrated with 'double standard'
BY TIM SULLIVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Joe Morgan was asked to hold his tongue. He wanted to be blunt with Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, but the Cincinnati Reds were urging diplomacy.
The Reds wanted to see if there was a way to include Pete Rose in the Big Red Machine's silver anniversary celebration without raising the level of rhetoric. They struck out before Morgan, a Hall of Fame second baseman, ever got a turn at bat.
Selig has denied the Reds' request to include Rose in the June 3 ceremonies honoring Cincinnati's 1975 World Series champions. John Allen, the Reds Chief Executive Officer, says no appeal is pending.
“If we're going to be honored, I think Pete should be a part of it,” Morgan said Sunday afternoon at Cinergy Field. “I was going to call him (Selig), but I was asked not to.”
Morgan declined to identify the Reds official who suggested a gag order, but he was clearly frustrated by what he considers Selig's double standard. Though the commissioner allowed Rose to participate in All-Century Team ceremonies before the second game of last year's World Series — a promotion sponsored by a credit card company — Selig has refused to allow Rose a role in commemorative occasions staged by individual clubs.
Both the Reds and Philadelphia Phillies will observe anniversaries this year of championship seasons in which Rose played an important part. Neither club is allowed to invite the exiled Hit King.
“The World Series stuff was about money,” said Morgan, in town for an ESPN broadcast of Opening Day. “This is about the fans. If the fans aren't the most important thing in the game, what is? I think Pete should be allowed to walk out there with the rest of us.”
Rose has claimed a conflict with the June 3 date — an African safari — and has said he did not want to attend either the Reds or the Phillies' ceremonies if it would "create a spectacle.” But he has also said Selig's position “doesn't make sense to me.”
Morgan, a member of the Hall of Fame Board of Directors, believes Rose could gain reinstatement and/or enshrinement in Cooperstown if he were to admit his mistakes.
“This,” he said, “is the most forgiving country in the world.”
But Rose continues to deny the allegations that led to his permanent suspension — chiefly that he bet on baseball games in which he was involved.
“The one thing Pete never does is give up,” Morgan said. “He fights to the bitter end.”
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Morgan wants Rose on field with Big Red Machine
