Story Created:
Jul 24, 2011 at 9:57 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Jul 24, 2011 at 11:49 PM EDT
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (WKTV) - During the 2011 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, we had a chance to speak with both Pete Rose, MLB's all-time leader in hits, as well as 25-year veteran Jim Kaat, about Cooperstown and making into the Hall someday.
Kaat talked Friday about what it would be like to make it into baseball's most elite group, though didn't want to discuss it during Induction Day of his former teammate from the Twins, Bert Blyleven. Back in the spring, when Blyleven visited the Hall of Fame and Museum, he gave Kaat his endorsement.
Rose, although absent from Sunday's festivities due to his ongoing ban due to past gambling trangressions dating back twenty years, said Friday that he hopes one day to hear his name called to the Hall and that it would be a dream come true.
"Anybody would like to be in the Hall of Fame, it would be the biggest thing to ever happen to anybody. I'm in the same boat as everybody else. If it ever happens I'll be the happiest guy in the world, if it doesn't happen, I have nobody to blame but myself, I'm the one who made the mistake and I'm not going to complain about this guy or that guy, because up to now I'm the reason I'm not here. It's just one of those things, I wish I could reverse it, but unfortunately I can't."
Kaat also talked about Cooperstown itself, a town he enjoys coming back to and has visited frequently.
"I went to college with some kids from Herkimer back in the midwest, so in 1956 as a college freshman I came here. I have a picture on my desk of my dad coming to Lefty Grove's induction in '47. This is probably my twelfth Induction and as I told Commissioner Selig last night, every player it almost ought to be mandatory that they come here and see the village and go through the Hall of Fame."
Either player could theoretically be eligible for the Golden Era Veterans Committee ballot, which will be held later this year, since they both played between 1947 and 1972. Rose, however, played most of his career in the Expansion Era, which doesn't hold another vote until 2014.
