Shades of Gray in This Story

The 14-year saga of the Pete Rose gambling story had no higher-profile moment than the Jim Gray interview.

Gray, a veteran network broadcaster, was working as an on-field reporter for NBC at the 1999 World Series in Atlanta. Before Game 2, a ceremony was held honoring an All-Century team, sponsored by MasterCard. The team was selected by a vote of fans -- the credit card company chose the candidates who appeared on the ballot -- and Rose, although he was banned from baseball, was among those selected.

“As I recall, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams and Rose got the biggest applause from the fans,” Gray, of Los Angeles, said Monday. “I interviewed him right after the ceremony and one of my questions ... was along the lines of: ‘Might not this be a good time, in the face of overwhelming evidence, to show some contrition and admit that you bet on baseball?’

“He replied that he was tired of saying, and people were sick of hearing him say, that he was not going to admit to doing something he didn’t do.

“He also challenged me on my use of the phrase ‘overwhelming evidence.’ He asked, ‘What overwhelming evidence?’ And I said, ‘The John Dowd report.’

“I think he was trying to intimate that I hadn’t read the report, but there was certainly no way I would pursue that line of questioning without having read the Dowd report.”

Gray said that the aftermath of the interview has continued. “I can honestly say that I have heard about this interview at least once a day, for every day since it happened....” he said. Gray fielded hate mail and enough death threats that his house was watched for a while by FBI agents. “This is unfortunate for all involved, mainly for commissioner Fay Vincent, John Dowd and the Bart Giamatti family,” Gray said. “That they had to live with this all this time, and be subjected to this abuse, when all along the guy knew what the truth was.”

Gray’s position in this controversy now? “It got a lot better today, didn’t it?” he said.