Pete Rose two blocks from the Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - Pete Rose sat a table at a downtown collectibles store in Cooperstown Thursday.  Every so often, somebody would come by to have a ball signed. Or to have a picture taken with the Hit King. Rose would chat briefly, smile on cue, and wish the fan well.

Two blocks from the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pete Rose is still an attraction. He's been coming to "Safe at Home" collectibles since 1993 to meet fans and make some money. Rose says he's not there to upstage the new inductees. In fact, he always leaves by induction day.

Rose expects to see a good many Cincinnati fans this week because Barry Larkin is being inducted.  Rose was Larkin's first manager when Larkin was promoted to the majors in August of 1986.

Rose reminded me that Larkin was competing with Kurt Stillwell for the shortstop position, that would soon be vacated by Dave Concepcion.  The two young players shared time at shortstop for the remainder of the 1986 season, but Rose remembers a conversation he had with Larkin the following winter.  Rose recalled that "Barry said 'you might as well trade Stillwell, Skip, because I'm going to be your shortstop for the next 15 years.'"  He did even better than that. Larkin lasted 19 seasons.

Rose knows what it takes to be a  Hall of Famer.  He's played with a bunch of them.  He rattled off the names of Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Mike Schmidt and Barry Larkin. He was even managed by a Hall of Famer, Sparky Anderson.

Those friends and former teammates are enshrined in the Hall of Fame, while Rose continues to sign autographs at a store, two blocks down Main Street. He remains baseball's longest shot.