Pete Rose was a mess, a person who exemplified the difference between a great ballplayer and a great man. 4,256 hits is an unbreakable record, but who cares after what he did? Even his old teammates abandoned him, at least for a time, and some never forgave him. It wasn’t just the betting on baseball, it was his lying & evasions to fans who wanted honest answers. That’s at the heart of how Pete Rose betrayed the game he loved, and in that sense he’s a tragic figure. I have written that despite his transgressions, he still deserved the HoF, but that point is moot now. There’s no point in honoring a dead man when you had plenty of chances to do that while he was still alive.
Pete Rose is a black mark for MLB because of how they handled him in the aftermath of Bart Giamatti’s ruling. At some point for MLB, some measure of forgiveness was in order, but that never happened. Like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, etc, he’s been excluded from the game because a scapegoat was needed, and this was decided largely by people who never played the game– namely media & owners.
From 1985-87, MLB owners engaged in a covert operation to restrict free agency, agreeing amongst themselves not to bid on free agents from other teams, effectively suppressing player salaries and limiting player movement. This is known as the ‘collusion era’ in MLB. When the Pete Rose betting scandal broke, it was used by MLB to deflect attention away from ownership & executive collusion.
Decades earlier, when Cardinals CF Curt Flood fought against the reserve clause in 1970, and asked for player support from stars such as Pete Rose, he was refused by all of them. When free agency came to MLB after Marvin Miller represented Dave McNally & Andy Messersmith in 1976, Pete Rose eventually left the Reds as a free agent to sign with the Phillies for more money. Rose was that kind of person, someone who doesn’t help another player in an important struggle because he’s too selfish & ignorant, but takes the benefit for himself later, long after the fight is over.
He was a bit overrated as a player, but still a HoFer. Pete Rose was the first modern utility player. He made lots of errors, in the field & on the bases, but gave championship effort at 2B, 3B, LF/RF, and then finally 1B. Charlie Hustle was an act, but also a team guy who would move to a new position to accommodate a better player such as Joe Morgan. Rose hung on way too long chasing Ty Cobb’s record, which is a player’s choice, but is painful to watch as a fan. Pete Rose was a lousy manager for the Reds, and deserved to be fired long before the betting scandal sunk him. As you can see I’m conflicted on Pete Rose, and so is everyone else and that’s why he’s so relevant.
Pete Rose came up with the Reds in 1963, in an era where heroes were still deified. The rise of 24/7 sports media with ESPN changed it to creating heroes, then tearing them down. Pete Rose, OJ Simpson, Tiger Woods, etc, became part of this phenomenon. Even the greatest players (workers) can be sacrificed as scapegoats, but the people on top, pulling the strings, they get to keep their power, money & prestige. Meanwhile, today’s fans bet for & against their heroes in every sport.
Pete Rose and many of his teammates took “greenies,” amphetamine pills in a candy bowl available to any player in the clubhouse on every team. So who is to blame? What is a “clean” player? What is the ‘PED era’ and how far does it extend back? These are uncomfortable questions that MLB avoids which are all personified in Pete Rose.
…………<><><><><><>………….