| | NEW YORK -- Despite an outpouring of sympathy for Pete Rose,
the NBC correspondent who conducted a combative interview about
gambling with the fallen baseball star said Monday he has nothing
to apologize for.
NBC's Jim Gray said his questions during a prime-time show
before Sunday's World Series game shouldn't have surprised Rose
since other reporters had asked the same things at a news
conference less than an hour earlier.
|  | | Pete Rose was all smiles before Game 2 of the World Series. |
"I don't apologize," Gray told reporters on Monday. "I stand
by it and I think it was absolutely a proper line of questioning."
The interview came moments after Rose was announced as a member of baseball's All-Century team. He received the longest ovation of
any baseball hero introduced at Atlanta's Turner Field _ longer
even than Atlanta Braves legend Henry Aaron, baseball's all-time
home run king.
It was another indication that fans seem willing to forgive
Rose, banned for life from the sport for gambling. Rose has never
admitted to gambling on baseball, and didn't again when asked by
Gray on Sunday.
Rose told Gray he was "surprised you're bombarding me like
this" on a festive occasion.
Switchboards at NBC affiliates across the country were bombarded
by phone calls from people angry at Gray -- two hours nonstop at
WLWT in Cincinnati, where Rose collected most of his Major League
record 4,256 hits for the hometown Reds.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, one fan wrote of being
enraged that Rose was "blindsided" during what should have been a
proud moment, and said it gives the press a bad name.
"I hope NBC buys a collar and leash for the bulldog," the
writer said.
New York Yankees catcher Jim Leyritz said the questioning was "barbaric" and said he had confronted Gray about it. Gray said
Leyritz never spoke to him and neither did any other Yankee, to his
face.
"We were pretty much all disgusted with Jim," said Yankees
outfielder Darryl Strawberry. "It was a night of celebration for
Pete Rose. Every player who ever plays cares about Pete Rose. It
was embarrassing. It didn't sit too well in this clubhouse."
Yankees manager Joe Torre said it was uncalled for. "For some
reason, we've lost sight of the word `respect.' We deal too much in
shock value."
Gray's colleague, NBC analyst Joe Morgan, a teammate of Rose's
with the Cincinnati Reds, was careful not to place the blame on
either person.
"I was cringing and hoping that Pete would have the right
answers," Morgan said. "I was just hoping the interview would be
over the next second."
But critics were tough on Gray. Phil Mushnick of the New York
Post called it a "mugging," while Bob Raissman of the New York
Daily News said it was a case of a reporter "trying to become the
moment and make himself bigger than the game."
Others leapt to Gray's defense. "I thought it was the best TV
interview I've ever seen," said Murray Chass, baseball writer for
The New York Times. "It was appropriate. It was not overdone. Rose
has put himself in position to be pressed like that."
John Dowd, the investigator whose 1989 probe of Rose led to the
ban, said he tipped his hat to Gray.
"I thought he had more guts than any guy I've ever seen," Dowd
said.
Former baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent said Gray knows how
overwhelming the evidence is against Rose. "For Pete to just stand
there and look Jim Gray in the eye and deny he bet on baseball,
it's obviously a challenge that any interviewer can't let go. I
recognize it was aggressive, but Rose was aggressive."
Gray won a Sports Emmy in 1998 for sideline reporting after his
relentless interview of Mike Tyson following the "Bite Fight"
with Evander Holyfield.
He said he thought it was the proper time for Rose to address
questions about why he had been banned from baseball.
"I tried very hard to be very fair to Pete last night and I
think I was very fair," Gray said. "The fact that he doesn't like
it doesn't mean it wasn't fair."
Gray said Rose, who he has interviewed more than 50 times in his
career, didn't appear angry when the camera switched off, but
remarked that he knew the interview was going to be all about
gambling.
"I felt I did my job and I did my job well, but it wasn't a
satisfying feeling to walk away from that," he said. | |
ALSO SEE
Ratto: No bloom off this Rose
Lawyer who investigated Rose says he caused 'embarrassing night'
 Off Base: Admit it and move on, Pete
No Gray area -- NBC interviewer won't apologize for interview with Rose
Baseball's greatest assemble in Atlanta for All-Century Team
For Pete's sake: Combative Rose back in baseball for one night
All-Century Team: Gehrig tops voting, Rose makes the cut
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Tim Kurkjian reports on Pete Rose as one of the century's best.
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