What happens next Where's my refund? Best CD rates this month Shop and save 🤑
MONEY
Pete Rose

Rieder: Props to Fox Sports for hiring Pete Rose

Rem Rieder
USA TODAY
Former Major League Baseball player Pete Rose looks on during batting practice prior to managing the game for the Bridgeport Bluefish against the Lancaster Barnstormers at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard on June 16, 2014, in Bridgeport, Conn.

Fox Sports did a good thing when it hired Pete Rose as a baseball commentator. He'll appear on pregame shows on Fox and Fox Sports 1, and on a variety of other programs.

Welcome back to the game, Charlie Hustle.

Pete Rose, as you may have heard, is not a saint. He agreed in 1989 to a lifetime ban from baseball for gambling on games, even though he continued to deny for years that he had done so before at last coming clean.

But here's the thing: This was no point-shaving scandal. Rose wasn't throwing games. Rather, as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, he was betting on his own team. To win.

Not wonderful. That's against the rules, and Rose deserved to be punished. But after 26 years, enough is enough.

Another factor: Given the heinous behavior of all stripes by athletes, not to mention politicians, in recent years, Rose's offense today just doesn't sound like a hanging matter.

While the Fox media empire has great power, even Rupert Murdoch doesn't have the authority to reinstate Rose, 74. That will be up to new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who has said he'll hear Rose make his case before issuing a decision. For his part, Rose says he's not thinking about reinstatement in connection with the new gig.

But what Fox's move does do is get a supremely accomplished player who just exuded baseball back in the day back in the game. The energy and verve with which Rose played baseball were unforgettable. He was so overwhelmingly competitive that you were apt to really dislike him as an opponent — and really come to appreciate him if he ended up on your side. That's what happened to me when Rose was traded to my beloved Phillies.

There's no question Rose knows baseball inside and out. But will he be any good on the air? As we have learned painfully, there is not always a direct correlation between the two.

But here's a good sign: In a piece about his appointment on foxsports.com over the weekend, Rose talked a lot about Charles Barkley. For my money, Sir Charles is one of the true joys in the world of sports commentary. His level of candor is astonishing. And even when he is colossally wrong, he's fun to listen to. And Barkley famously said years ago that he was no role model. In this context, Rose could do a lot worse. It sounds like he knows it.

"Charles knows the game," Rose said. "Charles played the game. Charles is a Hall of Famer. So, Charles knows the right way to play the game. He might criticize a player in one sentence and pat him on the back in the next sentence."

Rose promises a similar approach, calling out players who don't hustle or who make boneheaded plays.

"I'm not going to be vicious to the person," he says, "but if you're commentating, you have to tell it like it is."

Sounds like the right approach. Maybe we shouldn't bet that this won't work out.

Featured Weekly Ad