By any other name

So I’m sure that you heard about the passing of Pete Rose. Most people either hated him or loved him. There were very few sports fans that didn’t have an opinion. Rose was the all-time Major League hits leader with over 4000 hits.

Rose played for the Cincinnati Reds or when he played they were known as the Big Red Machine. He played five different positions in the infield and outfield and earned two gold gloves. He was a part of three World Series championships, three batting titles, one NL MVP, World Series MVP, Rookie of the year and 17 time All Star in five different positions. He was also a career .303 hitter. Try finding one of those guys today.

Following his playing days that included Philadelphia and Montreal, Rose returned to Cincinnati to manage the Reds. It was during his time as the Reds manager that information came out about Rose gambling on baseball games. This is the mortal sin of baseball that goes back to the days of the Chicago Black Sox scandal when eight White Sox players were kicked out of baseball for allegedly throwing the 1920 World Series against the Cincinnati Red Legs.

Rose denied the allegations but too much incriminating evidence came out and he was dismissed as manager and received a lifetime ban from baseball. The lifetime ban included keeping him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame something he fought for until the last days of his life.

It took a while but Rose finally admitted to his wrongdoings but in his defense, if there is a good defense, he said he never bet against his own team meaning that he played his best players and never threw a game. Admirable defense if anyone can corroborate those games and which ones did they win and which ones were lost and why and if anyone could do that it would amazing.

I was one of those guys that did not like Pete Rose because I was a Dodger fan and in those days the Reds and Dodgers played in the same division so they played each other a lot and the outcomes weren’t always favorable for the LA nine. But they were entertaining. I remember watching a Saturday afternoon game played in Los Angeles against the Reds. Manager Tommy Lasorda was miked up as the 3rd base coach and between pitches you could hear him chattering with Pete Rose. Lasorda said, “Hey Pete, the team had a vote the other day and they voted you second best looking player on the team.” Pete said, “Oh really? Who came in first?” Lasorda said, “Well the rest of your team tied for first!” Rose laughed and shook his head at Lasorda for the tension reliever on TV.

There are few players that took the game more seriously than Rose. Winning was the most important thing to him and his teammates would follow suit. Pete Rose had the tenacity to play the game at full tilt. There are hundreds of pictures of Rose throughout his career with his patented head first slide many times with his helmet flying off to steal a base or going from first to third after a teammate hit a single into the outfield. If the front of Pete’s jersey wasn’t dirty then there is a good chance he had a day off which wasn’t often. His intensity and tenacity on the playing field earned him the nickname Charlie Hustle. And yes it was earned.

Like I said it was hard for me to like Pete Rose until he went to Philadelphia and wasn’t playing the Dodgers so much. When you stepped back and watched how hard he played it was a lot easier to understand how important it was to win and there is nothing to be ashamed of if that is how you play the game. Rose believed that the team that gives the best effort deserves to be victorious but it has to be earned.

The debate will go on forever as to if Rose deserves to be a hall of famer. His stats are in the hall of fame but he isn’t. Betting on games is the one thing that gets you banned for life. Performance enhancing drugs gets punished for a certain amount of games but gambling gets you banned for life. Cheating like the Houston Astros did a few years back didn’t get their world title removed and what they did truly influenced every home game they played that year and their manager had to sit out a season but he too is back as manager of another team. Since his team is in the playoffs there are plenty of kudos to him now.

Rose has hall of fame numbers more than most players and those numbers are worthy to be in the Hall. Will it happen to Pete Rose? Maybe if they change his name to Charlie Hustle then that guy can be a hall of famer.

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].