Showing Pete Rose footage frowned upon, Fox’s Tim McCarver says

Pete Rose is banned from Major League Baseball for gambling, but are networks that carry the national pastime prohibited from showing old footage of Charlie Hustle?

That’s what Fox’s baseball commentator Tim McCarver told sports radio host Dan Patrick on Monday morning during an interview to promote the network’s coverage of Tuesday night’s All-Star game.

“Major League Baseball does not like us showing video of Pete Rose on our air and from my understanding, ESPN’s too,” McCarver said.

Major League Baseball had no official comment on McCarver’s remarks. An executive there familiar with the relationship between the TV networks and Major League Baseball who declined to speak publicly on the matter said, “There isn’t a blanket restriction.”

Although there might not be anything written in stone, Major League Baseball’s reluctance to discuss McCarver’s statement on the record suggests there probably is something to what the veteran broadcaster said.

Although there may not be a need to have access to Pete Rose footage on a daily basis, one of the most memorable moments in All-Star game history was the 1970 game when a hard-charging Rose barreled into Oakland Athletics catcher Ray Fosse in a play at home plate.

Guess baseball fans will have to find that one on YouTube.

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Follow Joe Flint on Twitter @JBFlint.