Before his guitar playing earned him a rep as being Bad to the Bone, George Thorogood was considering a career in baseball. But three little things got in the way. “I couldn’t hit, run or throw,” Thorogood laughs. “That hung me up, man.”
The guitarist got out of ball in the ’70s. But as a former player, what does he think of the Pete Rose business? He first says that he thinks it’s none of his business. “Personally, I met the man once and he was very pleasant to me. But since you asked me, I think he’s a man living in denial with a gambling problem. He broke Bart Giamatti’s heart. I think that’s what gave him a heart attack.” (Former Baseball Commissioner Giamatti, who banished Rose from baseball for life for betting on the sport and associating with known gamblers, died of a heart attack weeks after banishing Rose.) “Bart Giamatti loved Pete Rose. And I don’t think Pete could see that. He wasn’t out to get him. He was just saying ‘Pete, you may have a gambling problem–get some help and we’ll reinstate you–we’ll give you your job back if you’ll just get some help.’ And now he’s desperate, and he wants to get into the hall of fame so bad, now he’s turning this whole story around.”
As far as the state of his music goes, Thorogood has a box set coming out this fall that will be divided into four separate sections–rock, blues, live and all the band’s originals. This spring, he’s touring his latest release, Ride Till I Die, which includes possibly the best song of his career, a cover of “I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water.”
The show starts at 9 p.m. American Minor opens. Tickets are $28 in advance, $30 day of show. 
