Pete Rose: 'I'm The Best Ambassador Baseball Has'

Anytime you hear that Mike Francesa and Pete Rose will be in the same studio for an interview, you get to your radio dial immediately. 

Well, it happened Tuesday in a nearly hour-long sit down on WFAN that covered almost every topic imaginable from A-to-Z in what was a riveting conversation. Rose was making his rounds to promote his new book: 'Play Hungry: The Making Of A Baseball Player.' 

Gambling is the big thing that will go with Rose wherever he goes. Betting on baseball has him never getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

"I'm 78 years old. I work my ass off 20 days a month," Rose said on WFAN Tuesday. "What is the big deal if I want to go bet tomorrow night on a basketball game legally and go home and watch it on TV? That's my enjoyment. I'm not going to be inside the game. You're not going to hire me. I don't want to be a coach. If people don't understand I've learned my lesson, they're never going to understand." 

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Rose goes around the country signing autographs for fans. You can call him an ambassador for Major League Baseball. Rose took it a step further. 

"I think I'm the best ambassador baseball has. I work 20 days a month, four and a half hours a day, signing autographs for kids and fathers and grandmas and grandpas and all I do is talk positive about the game. Name me somebody else who is a former player that does that much road work for baseball. There isn't." 

The Cincinnati Reds legend will probably never get into Cooperstown, but he says it doesn't bother him anymore.

"I'm already over it," Rose told Francesa. "My family knows what kind of player I was. My fans know what kind of player I was. Sure it would mean a lot to you. His or her sport, everybody should want to go to the Hall of Fame. All my buddies are up there. Half of them are up there because of me. I think I helped Mike Schmidt get to the Hall of Fame. I think I helped Johnny Bench get there. I think I helped Joe Morgan get there. I know I helped Tony Perez get there. I think I helped Gary Carter get there, Raines and Dawson. They were all my teammates. Why are all the guys I played with in the Hall of Fame?"