Virgen’s View: When it comes to playing baseball, Pete Rose has no regrets

Dennis Kuhl, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim chairman, appeared excited to introduce the featured speaker of the 12th annual Hot Stove League Dinner event on Monday night.

Kuhl said Pete Rose had to be the best guest in the series at The Cannery in Newport Beach. Rose, baseball’s hit king, is certainly the most polarizing character to speak in the small room at the Lido Isle restaurant owned by Ron Salisbury, a huge baseball fan.

Kuhl didn’t talk about the controversial stuff when introducing Rose. He talked about his great statistics and all the good surrounding the 74-year-old, and that included his fiancé Kiana Kim, who laughed at Rose’s every joke. And, there were plenty of jokes.

Rose entertained during his program of baseball stories and candid responses to questions.

Before he spoke to the attendees, he took on a short interview with me. I was told I couldn’t ask about his pending reinstatement to baseball, which is supposed to be decided by the end of the calendar year by Commissioner Rob Manfred. However, that question was answered during his Q&A with fans.

And, so I asked: “Do you have any regrets in your life?”

“Regrets?” Rose said. “I have no regrets the way I played the game. As far as [others]? Sure. I wish I hadn’t bet on baseball. I mean, that’s the biggest regret I have. But as far as playing the game, approaching the game, dedication to the game, giving to the game, I have no regrets. I played every game like it might be my last game.

“That’s just the way it is,” he said about the regrets. “Things happen in life, and you’d like it to change but unfortunately you have to live with it. It’s a part of history.”

Manfred and baseball fans, does that make a case at all that Rose’s lifetime ban for betting on baseball should be lifted after 26 years?

Rose wasn’t in Newport Beach to talk about why he should be reinstated. But it seems like his every move now is calculated and done so humbly with the hopes he can somehow get back in the game in some form.

“I’m the best ambassador for baseball,” he said during his Q&A with fans. “Because all I do is talk baseball. That’s all I know.”

Someone did ask about the pending reinstatement and the meeting Rose had with Manfred at the Major League Baseball offices in New York on Sept. 24.

“The meeting went well,” Rose said, as he stood next to a chair with one leg hiked up on the seat. “I don’t know if he’ll reinstate me. If he does, I’ll be the happiest person in the world.”

Rose touched on several topics while at The Cannery. The one that stood out for me was his passionate statement: “We were playing a kid’s game,” to describe why he always tried to have fun and play his hardest while competing.

Rose also said MLB stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens should be in the Hall of Fame despite their steroid suspicions. And, steroids aren’t to blame for downgrading the game. It’s mostly the media’s fault. He made a point to say, no offense to this reporter.

Sandy Koufax was definitely the hardest pitcher to figure for Rose, he said. He also said the players around him made him better.

The dinner event was to raise money for the charitable Angels Foundation, but there were questions about the Dodgers and what should they do to get over the hump. Rose said the Dodgers need to get an aggressive leader as their skipper, “like [Tommy] Lasorda.” About those Angels, Rose simply referred to them as an “interesting team.”

Everyone applauded Rose before he spoke and laughed and clapped afterward. He had some bathroom humor mixed in there, but he said he actually toned it down because he saw children at a few of the tables.

Through the jokes and stories he shared, it was easy to see Rose’s strong love for the game. It seems hard to see his reinstatement being denied. Over the past 26 years, Rose’s personality and old-school charm has appeared to create more fans than detractors. But who knows?

Rose will continue to love the game.

“Baseball has been my whole life and I’ve enjoyed the ride,” he said after I asked what baseball means to him. “I hope it continues because I don’t root for any certain team. I root for all teams. I want them all to do well. I don’t root for any individual player. I want all the players to do well. I help a lot of players. That’s what I enjoy about baseball, trying to help players to make the game better. Any time you can keep making the game better, it’s better for everybody.”