The Yankees’ Game 3 hero, Chad Curtis, snubbed NBC’s Jim Gray last night – refusing to talk to him out of anger over the sports reporter’s controversial interview with ex-baseballer Pete Rose.
“Because of what happened with Pete, we decided not to say anything,” Curtis told Gray when asked about his 10th-inning, game-winning homer. Curtis quickly dedicated the four-bagger to his grandmother and then ducked away.
The Yankees had previously told reporters they were outraged by Gray’s behavior in Atlanta when he cornered Rose after Sunday’s All Century Team ceremony and pushed him to talk about the gambling habit that got him bounced from baseball for life.
Furious fans flooded NBC with calls after the interview aired.
Gray addressed the controversy during last night’s pregame show.
“After viewing the videotape, I can understand the reaction of many baseball fans,” Gray said.
“I thought that it was important to ask Pete Rose if this was the right moment for him to make an apology.
“If, in doing so, the interview went on too long and took out some of the joy of the occasion, then I want to say to baseball fans everywhere that I’m very sorry about this.”
Rose, who has never admitted to gambling on baseball, received the longest ovation from fans at the ceremony before Game 2 in Atlanta.
It was the first time he was allowed on a major-league ball field since his ban a decade ago.
Curtis later explained his silence.
“It’s not a personal thing with me and Jim Gray,” he said. “It’s a thing the team decided. It really upset some people, so we as a team decided to boycott talking to him on the field. If my team decides that, then it’s my decision, too.”
Up in the stands, fan Matt Candel, 29, called Gray’s words “empty.”
“He never acknowledged that Pete Rose is the greatest hitter of all time,” said the Manhattan trader.
“He calls that an apology? He should be fired.”
Fan Mark Schinglo, 28, carried a homemade wanted poster with Gray’s picture indicating the sportscaster was wanted for “verbal assault.”
“I think Jim Gray’s a joke,” Schinglo said,