Pete Rose a 'signature' part to Hall of Fame weekend
Photo credit: AP | Pete Rose returns to the Hall of Fame this weekend to sign autographs, despite his lifetime ban from baseball.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - As Pete Rose's baseball suspension approaches its 20th anniversary next month, the game's all-time hit king returned here as a visitor this weekend to do what he does best these days.
Sign autographs.
Rose's presence here on Hall of Fame weekend has long been controversial, drawing the ire of his counterparts in the game -- even though every player who comes here signs autographs for money. The 68-year-old has been doing this ever since the early days of his lifetime suspension, and he has never apologized for it.
After Rose admitted to commissioner Bud Selig in a 2002 meeting that he bet on baseball, he chose to stay away from Cooperstown for four years, hoping that keeping a low profile would help his bid for reinstatement. It didn't work.
Sensing no movement on his bid to get back into the game, Rose returned to Cooperstown in 2007. He told Newsday then, "Nothing's happened, so I can't . . . I can't . . . this is a big weekend. This is a big weekend for anyone who is in the autograph business, and I'm in the autograph business.”
For Rose, who declined to comment Friday, this is the third straight year back signing autographs. He sits at a folding table in the back of a store called Safe at Home, located just a few doors down from the Hall of Fame.
The sign outside on the store's window says Rose's autograph on a photo or ball costs $60, on a jersey, bat or other equipment goes for $95 and the "Charlie Hustle jersey package” -- complete with an 8x10 photo -- runs you $350.
There's another sign that says you also can take a digital photo with Rose and get it signed -- for $75.
