Pete Rose

FootballDad

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
5,493
Location
Somewhere near Kansas City, MO
This was posted on X a couple of days ago. It's a 6 minute video of Pete Rose on FS1 with Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas, well worth the watch:
 

Freethinker

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 3, 2008
Messages
7,569
Location
Suffolk County, NY
This was posted on X a couple of days ago. It's a 6 minute video of Pete Rose on FS1 with Alex Rodriguez and Frank Thomas, well worth the watch:
Thank you for sharing. It was clear that Pete was a baseball genius. He probably was the most knowledgeable man alive when it came to hitting a baseball until his recent passing. You could see Arod and Thomas, two hall of famers, were just in awe of his brilliance.
 

white is right

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
10,163
"We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special alert, brought to you by Draft Kings: Pete Rose has died."

This society is saturated with legal gambling, to the point that large corporations like Draft Kings routinely advertise during sports events and broadcasters often give spreads during football games. Total, vengeful, Talmudic type hypocrisy to have kept Rose out of Cooperstown all these years. The only justification would have been if Pete had bet against his teams, and he was never accused of that.

Ty Cobb's hits record used to be considered one of those famous "unbreakable" ones that fans loved to argue about. Well, Rose broke it and now his mark appears unbreakable. Ichiro may have topped it if he had played his entire career in the U.S., but he didn't and there's no one playing now or in the conceivable near future who will. Pete's 4,256 career hits have stood for nearly 40 years and may stand forever. It's a remarkable record if you think about it -- a player could get 200 hits for 20 straight seasons and still be 256 hits short.

Pete Rose personified hustle and effort. He was also a man of the people, beloved by working men around the country, not just in Cincinnati even though he was a bit of an arrogant jerk at times. All men are flawed. He was also one of the greatest players ever, one who lacked power and top shelf athleticism yet still made himself into a legend.

I remember Pete Rose as a presence from my earliest memories as I loved baseball with a passion, until he retired in 1986 after a 24 year career. He was one of a kind, and was treated most unkindly and unfairly by baseball's PTB, and also by the always lockstep corporate media. RIP
Rose did this for 20 years and ended up short about 100 hits of the Cobb record when he was released by the Expos where he was 4th outfielder and pinch hitter.

If Rose was not the beloved figure that he was in his hometown the Reds probably would not have hired him to be a playing manager as his bat probably could not justify his quest for the near unbreakable record.

My earliest memories of Rose was Rose breaking the modern NL consecutive game hit streak that had stood since 1945 and the subsequent daily reports in the papers and the nightly news until he struck out against Gene Garber with the streak ending at 44 games,

Rose similar to Ripken had a work ethic that would have put him in the hall of fame if he was not caught for gambling on baseball. Without the work ethic I have my doubts on whether he would have accumulated the counting stats to make the hall as similar to Aaron he was never the greatest player in his prime but he similar to Aaron maintained his peak well past contemporaries and was able to accumulate legendary totals.

I wish Rose had shown contrition back around 1989 as he probably would have been banned but reinstated x years down the road if he went to GA meetings or sought counselling.

At this point if he was to be reinstated it would only benefit his two sons and the fans who remember Rose.

Sad news considering Rose was seen the day before at a card show signing memorabilia and greeting fans.
 
Last edited:

Carolina Speed

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
5,758
Growing up Pete Rose was my favorite baseball player. Once in Little League our coach asked us what number we wanted and I chose Pete's number, 14! As with NFL football in NC 50 years ago there was no MLB teams, but the Reds as well as the Yankees were shown often in the seventies on national television stations in NC. Although I followed the Yankees Thurman Munson, Bucky Dent, Reggie Jackson, as well as pitchers Catfish Hunter. Guidry, and Sparky Lyle, The Big Red Machine with Rose, Bench, Morgan, Perez, and Concepcion was my favorite team.
I always said Rose should be banned from the HOF, because of his gambling mostly because the rules stated," if you're ever caught gambling you would be banned from baseball." I believe there was a sign in each MLB clubhouse and or as you entered the field that said, "Absolutely No Gambling Allowed." Pete saw it every day as he entered the playing field. He knew what the rules were and he broke them as if they were never there.
Johnny Bench said," if you let Pete in then you have go home and tell your children that you don't have to obey the rules."
Pete was no saint either as he openly cheated on his first wife seemingly without remorse and allegedly has sex with a 16 year old girl. The same was with his gambling. No remorse for a long time. Who knows what all he was into.
But the HOF is not the hall of saints. As there are many players in the HOF that were probably as unprincipled as Pete and maybe worse.
I've always been conflicted with whether I think Rose should be in The HOF or not. I guess I've softened a bit over the years and with MLB partnering with gambling companies, part of me, 51% is saying, Yes, Peter Edward Rose Sr. belongs in The Baseball Hall of Fame.
RIP Pete. I hope you made peace with God before you died.
 
Last edited:
Top