The Humble Hustle of Pete Rose
By STEVE FRIESS
If his face weren’t so famous, I’d be sure I was speaking to a different man. The Pete Rose I met three years ago was bitter, irascible, impatient, fidgety. The guy I sat with last week at the Forum Shops, where he signs autographs for a living, seemed possessed by the Dalai Lama.By STEVE FRIESS
There were two reasons to chat up Charlie Hustle now. For the first time since he was banned from baseball for betting on games as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Rose is being honored on the field at the Reds’ ballpark this month on the 25th anniversary of breaking Ty Cobb’s hit record. Also, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens is being indicted on charges he lied to Congress about whether he used performance-enhancing drugs.
Rose remains an official pariah, ineligible for the Hall of Fame while people who did real long-term and widespread damage to the game—Clemens, Bonds, A-Rod—remain eligible. Not to mention, have you seen the list of all-around assholes enshrined in Cooperstown?
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1 comments:
Regardless of the Cooperstown question or the assholish nature of certain players, I heartily disagree with the notion that what Pete Rose did was less damaging to the game than use of PEDs. Baseball will get over steroids, but even just the perception that the game might have been fixed is a whole other matter. That's what Pete Rose's actions were about a half-step away from.
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