Sandberg: I'd want Rose on my coaching staff

Ryne Sandberg has never made any secret of his adoration for Pete Rose.

Not when Sandberg broke into baseball, not when he broke records, and not when he broke down the door at Cooperstown.

With reports surfacing Monday that Rose may be reinstated, and with Sandberg climbing the managerial ladder, this might only be a year or two away.

"Players today would only benefit from being around him, and the game would only be better if players were around Pete Rose," Sandberg said Monday afternoon as he boarded a bus in Mobile, Ala. "I'd want to be on same team as Pete Rose, so, yes, if I was ever fortunate enough to get the chance to manage in the big leagues, I'd want a guy like him on my staff, and want him around my team.

"I would definitely want what Pete Rose brings to the park. No doubt about that.

"He brings a lot of energy and effort and expects everyone else to do the same thing. He changes the entire dynamic."

Sandberg experienced a couple of spring trainings with Rose and the Phillies and was a September call-up in 1981 for the defending World Champions.

Three decades later, after two seasons at Peoria (A), Sandberg is managing the Double-A Tennessee Smokies, and there's little question his style has a lot to do with a work ethic he developed while growing up and watching Rose.

"I idolized the way he played the game of baseball, and when I first broke in and played against him I wanted to raise my game to compete against him and show him how hard I could compete, too," Sandberg said. "I often found myself having good games against him, wanting to compete against the best and get the respect of the best."

There's talk that Commissioner Bud Selig may reinstate Rose, with the agreement that he'd never again manage in the big leagues.

"Having him back in baseball would definitely make me happy," Sandberg said. "It would hopefully start the ball rolling to get him in the Hall of Fame, which doesn't feel right without him."

Reinstatement, however, doesn't mean Rose will necessarily get a free pass from the Veterans Committee, which is made up of Hall of Famers, some of whom believe the club should remain closed to those who didn't get the writers' vote.

Rose does have in his favor several former teammates who could vote for him, like Sandberg, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Gary Carter, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and manager Sparky Anderson, to name a few, though some of them have criticized Rose in the past.

"I think it'll be very interesting since no one's been voted in by the committee up to this point," Sandberg said. "But I think he'd be the perfect candidate for his peers to vote him in."

It also doesn't mean Sandberg excuses Rose for betting on baseball while managing the Reds.

"On the field, the numbers speak for themselves, and the way he played speaks for itself," Sandberg said. "Off the field, every player, coach and manager that steps into that locker room knows what it says on the board about betting on baseball, and the rule is read to every team, every year, by the GM.

"You can't have it in the game and still have the integrity of game, but I think it's been 20 years and I think he's been punished enough."

Sandberg suffered his own punishment Monday for attending Hall of Fame ceremonies in Cooperstown over the weekend.

He had to be on the road back from Cooperstown to Albany, N.Y., by 3:30 a.m. Monday for a series of flights that would get him to Alabama in time to ride with his team to the ballpark.

But tough travel is nothing new to Sandberg, who has endured nine-hour bus rides this summer around the Southeast.

Still, he couldn't be happier with the way his latest adventure has gone.

"We started well, hit a tough stretch, and then won 14 of 18 to end the first half, and it's hard to believe there's only 40 games left. It's gone fast," Sandberg insisted. "The important thing is the guys are playing hard and learning, and we've sent eight or nine players up to Triple-A.

"It's been a good experience to manage with National League rules. It's a lot more fun because you get a chance to make some things happen, use the bench, get everyone involved and enjoy the strategy of the game.

"This level of the minors has been a great learning experience for me."

All part of his plan to get back to the big leagues as a manager.

If he does, figure Pete Rose to be part of that plan, too.

brozner@dailyherald.com