Pete Rose has left the building — for good. R.I.P Charlie Hustle.
Some will remember Pete Rose as a villain, the guy who gambled on baseball and was expelled forever, but I’ll always remember Pete Rose gameplay between the lines. Nobody ever played the game that I remember as hard as Rose. Was he the best hitter in the game?
No, I’d say Ichiro Suzuki was the best hitter I ever saw play the game. Ichiro had his MLB career cut short because he played a good part of his early pro baseball years in Japan where his stats aren’t part of the MLB. I think Ichiro would have beaten Rose’s hit records, because Ichiro was just crazy good.
Neither Ichiro or Pete Rose took steroids, which is another problem baseball has gone through. Whatever you think of the steroids era of baseball, it was exciting for fans seeing these mammoth homerun games. Fans love the long ball. Personally, I was more impressed with Ichiro golfing hits out of the dirt and multiple 5 for 5 hit games then some previously non-HR hitter banging dozens of dingers, but will admit the chase between McGwire and Sosa was fun to watch. And then there was Barry Bonds. Yeah, all kinds of homerun power made the game fun.
The current problem, however, is gambling and how baseball is surrounded by gambling … everywhere. It’s promoting the huge business of sportsbetting and it’s hooking, in particular, young men (18-24) which is a demographic that should be in college or starting their careers. They shouldn’t be spending all their hard-earned money sportsbettting.
And yet, somehow, that’s the target market.
Ironically, Pete Rose tried to get back into the hall of fame and couldn’t buy a break. Not for his play on the field, but for what he did as a manager. Yes, he violated baseball’s cardinal rule: don’t gamble on the game. He did. He got caught. He was banned.
So, now that Rose is gone, does he get in? Mark your calendars. It’s 2024. I’m thinking Rose gets into the baseball Hall of Fame on/before 2030. I think keeping him out now serves little to no purpose. You can’t keep out the hits king from your hall of fame, regardless if he’s on some ineligible list.
In the PGM discord there’s a rather spirited discussion on what’s wrong with baseball. It started somehow with Pete Rose, of which, I replied with I think Rose gets in within five years. I’m essentially adding a few months here to make it before 2030, since next year is 2025, but it seems about the right amount of time.
Pete Rose played a type of baseball that I miss seeing on the field. He ran out (hard) routine sac flies. He dove headfirst into the bases, something that’s actually quite dangerous. If you blocked the plate, he took you out, a la Ray Fosse. Sad is the story of Ray Fosse, but Pete Rose saw him in the way of scoring and Fosse was geared up. It’s one in yet many controversial stories surrounding Rose.
Nobody denies how hard Rose played the game he loved. And nobody denies he loved the game.
These days most these grossly overpaid athletes aren’t like Rose. This is what turns me off as a fan more than the game itself. I like the game of baseball and, sometimes, I enjoy watching it. AAA is more fun to me, actually, than the majors because the players interact more, the field feels closer, the fans feel more connected to the team.
Maybe I’ll be wrong on Rose getting into the Hall of Fame. What do you think? Does he ever get in … or no? If you say he gets in, when?
Todd Russell