While most of the talk about Pete Rose continues to revolve around his election to the Hall of Fame and the sins he committed against baseball, the fact remains that he is really just all about baseball with a capital “B”. And that can never be taken away from him.
I’ll go out on a limb here and say that no one who is alive today knows more about baseball than Pete Rose. He is a walking encyclopedia of his own career and, as we’ll see, he can tell you his batting average against Sandy Koufax or any other pitcher you want to name. He can also talk about hitting until your head is spinning. Pete Rose is really just all about baseball.
He’s also a pretty funny guy and his gig on FOX has taken on a life of its own with his photobombing and deadpan lead-ins to his fellow broadcasters like the one we saw on Saturday with Alex Rodriguez.
But when Pete Rose talks baseball, you feel compelled to listen. For example, most of us probably buy into the theory that making the adjustment to major league pitching from the minor leagues is one of the most difficult things a hitter has facing him. Not so according to Pete Rose.
His baseball memory is off the charts as well. Here he is giving a discourse on Sandy Koufax.
This man lives and breathes baseball. He doesn’t know much else, and he’d be the first to admit that. In fact, he’d admit to just about anything except the fact that he bet on baseball. Pete Rose is a complicated person who just likes to keep things simple these days. He’ll do anything to avoid taking about his “sins” against baseball, but get him going on baseball and he’ll talk forever.
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What do we do with a man like that? How do we reconcile his place in the realm of a sport without judging him as a person? Because as a person, he reminds us of Ty Cobb, who was framed best in this Washington Post story aptly titled “Best Player – Not Best Man”. Or, to put it another way, he’s not Derek Jeter.
But then again, he never said he was. What he has said in bold headlines on his website is that he is “The Hit King” of baseball. And there’s no arguing the numbers about that, unless you want to join the small parade of those who are desperately trying to convince us that Ichiro is if you combine his Japanese and American stats.
And that’s what it’s come to. Because Pete Rose has become the “Tricky Dick” Nixon of baseball and everything we think about him is framed in his failings. And just as Nixon can never be excused for his dealings with Watergate, Pete Rose is branded by his obsession with gambling and his forced exile from baseball.
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But at same time, if we take the time to look at both men in a different context, we see a completely different person. And maybe it just reduces itself to whether you want to see the glass as half empty or half full. But this much I do know: Pete Rose is all about baseball and I could listen to him talk baseball all day. And for me, that’s more than enough. Feel free to share your thoughts below.
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