My Dad Is Smiling About Pete Rose Today
Pete Rose was one of my Dad’s favorite ballplayers. I can still hear him now, “John, this is how you play baseball. Hard. Intense. They call this guy Charlie Hustle for a reason.”
Of course, my Dad was talking about Pete Rose, the current Major League Baseball (MLB) record holder for number of games played (3,562) and hits (4,256). Rose earned this nickname for his intensity running the bases and his overall hardcore play. Yankees legends, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, notably coined the moniker, which Rose embraced throughout his career.
Pete Rose won three World Series rings, two with the Cincinnati Reds and one with the Philadelphia Phillies. His Reds teams from the 1970s, known as the Big Red Machine, are in the conversation for some of the greatest teams in baseball history.
Rose won the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, 1973 NL Most Valuable Player, three batting titles, two gold gloves, and one silver slugger. He also won the World Series MVP in 1975.
But Pete Rose is not in MLB’s Hall of Fame. He was banned from consideration until recently. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred decided it was time to lift the ban on Rose who was ousted from baseball for gambling. Unfortunately, Rose is not alive to enjoy it, having passed away in September 2024.
“In my view, once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served. Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game.”
In addition to Rose, Manfred also took the opportunity to lift the bans on other deceased ballplayers, most notably Shoeless Joe Jackson, whose legacy was immortalized in the film, Field of Dreams. I remember watching that movie with my Dad and him saying, “Like Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe was one of the best the game had ever seen, but was unfairly treated and made an example of by the league.”
Gambling: why Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson were banned from baseball
Each baseball legend had their own run-in with gambling on baseball. Pete Rose was investigated while he was a manager of the Cincinnati Reds in 1989 and the investigation concluded that he had bet on baseball games while he was a manager and player. Rose later admitted to betting on his own games, but claimed he never bet against himself, only for himself.
Shoeless Joe Jackson and other teammates from his 1919 Chicago White Sox team were accused of conspiring with gamblers to lose the World Series. They were banned for life.
While there was plenty of evidence and testimony that Rose bet on baseball while he was actively participating, I’ve never seen evidence that he bet against himself. Or that one of the most intensely competitive ballplayers ever did anything but try to win.
And if you look at Shoeless Joe’s 1919 World Series performance, you might be scratching your head as to why he was accused of throwing the game. He hit for a .375 average in the series, with a then-record 12 hits, 6 RBIs, and no errors, while throwing out 5 players from the outfield. Hardly anything suggesting an intent to lose.
When you juxtapose Rose and Jackson to the widespread cheating that has plagued baseball from the beginning of time, they appear more like scapegoats and less like targets for justice. From greenies and garbage cans to spitballs and steroids, ballplayers have been pushing the limits of baseball’s rules to gain advantages on the field since the game was invented.
Gaylord Perry was one of the most notorious spitballers who constantly doctored the baseball to make it spin and move in exaggerated ways. But do you know where Gaylord Perry is today? The Hall of Fame.
And while many of the steroids-era ballplayers like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame, their names were at least on the ballot. They weren’t banned for life from the game despite substantial evidence that they cheated.
Most recently, the Houston Astros were found guilty of banging on garbage cans to communicate what pitches were likely coming from opposing teams. Some of the biggest offenders involved in the scheme — Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, etc. — have enjoyed illustrious careers with no punishment.
All of these examples differ from the accusations against Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson. Rose was never found to have bet against himself or intentionally thrown games to make money on his bets. And while Jackson was, the evidence of his strong performance in the 1919 World Series suggested otherwise.
Meanwhile, scores of ballplayers have cheated and spit on baseballs and they’ve ended up in Cooperstown or at least on the Hall of Fame ballots to get there.
If baseball was so worried about the “integrity of the game” when it came to guys like Rose and Jackson, why were they not as harsh when applying punishments and lifetime bans to players who were directly affecting the outcome of pitches, at-bats, and games?
My Dad always thought that gambling had a particularly negative ring. Remember, in the days of Rose and especially Jackson, gambling was a largely mob-run business. Services like FanDuel certainly didn’t exist, and outside of places like Las Vegas or Atlantic City, you needed a bookie to place bets for you. It also probably didn’t help Rose’s case that he established residence in Las Vegas later in life and admitted to continuing to bet on baseball until his passing.
But it’s a shame that one of the greatest players of all time, who was an otherwise clean and pure hitter, is not alive to see the day where he has a chance at immortality in the Hall of Fame.
My Dad is smiling today for Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe
I grew up going to Seattle Mariners baseball games with my family and particularly my Dad. Whenever we analyzed new prospects or players, my Dad was constantly searching for the next Pete Rose. He loved that our manager in the 1990s, Lou Pinella, also wore number 14 like Rose and had the intensity to match him too.
One of my Dad’s favorite anecdotes on Rose’s intensity was how he barreled over catcher Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game. In the modern era, baseball and other sports have had to add incentives so players try harder and make these types of exhibition games more competitive. Nobody had to do that for Pete Rose — he wanted to win so badly he plowed into Fosse to score the winning run, an impact so hard it separated Fosse’s shoulder and he never was the same.
But that’s who Charlie Hustle was — intense. He played the game at only one speed and that was full throttle. So whenever my Dad saw a young Mariners ballplayer flying into walls, diving headfirst, or pushing hard for that extra base, he automatically made my Dad’s “do not cut” list. On those 1990s Mariners teams, guys like Rich Amaral and Alex Diaz come to mind.
And while neither my Dad nor myself could watch Shoeless Joe Jackson play in that infamous 1919 World Series, we certainly enjoyed more than a few viewings of Field of Dreams. Unfortunately for Rose and Jackson, this quote from the film captures their missed chance at enjoying a Hall of Fame induction in their lifetimes:
“It would kill some men to get so close to their dream and not touch it.”
Hopefully their ancestors can touch their dream for them. My Dad thought we would all be better off having the greats in the Hall of Fame, regardless of their moral failings and how they compromised the integrity of the game.
“Simply put them in another wing”, my Dad used to say. “It’s a museum after all.”
No baseball museum can accurately and comprehensively tell the story of the game without guys like Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson enshrined in it. Same goes for the steroid-era players like Bonds and Clemens. While we may not want to celebrate them, we shouldn’t ignore the history even if the MLB was somewhat complicit during that era.
My Dad, Pete Rose, and Shoeless Joe Jackson may be gone from this world, but I know they’re somewhere smiling today with hope; happy that a little justice was served even if it was too little, too late. I’m hopeful the baseball writers will do the right thing in 2028 by sending Rose and Jackson where they belong for eternity — the Hall of Fame.
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