In Defense of Pete Rose (Finally)

I am a huge baseball fan, and always have been. I played the game from 1965-1968, again from 1973-1976, and then, after over a decade playing softball from 1976-1992, returned once again and played from 1993-2017. A lot of my life was spent between those white lines, and they are moments I would never give back. I loved every second.

So today, I want to write about the complicated legacy of Peter Edward Rose.

Let’s face it: like a lot of professional baseball players (Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds, Lenny Dykstra and Wade Boggs come immediately to mind), Rose was not a rocket scientist, nor was he a candidate for the Nobel Prize.

But his job description was not “Rocket Scientist” nor was it “Nobel Prize Winner.” Nope.

Pete’s job was getting hits, catching and throwing, and winning baseball games. Anyone who says he did NOT do those things at a Hall of Fame level has never held a baseball in anger. The 1980 Phillies simply do not win a Championship without Rose. This is inarguable.

But Pete was his own worst enemy.

Every day, he walked past a sign in every MLB clubhouse than warned against the dangers of gambling and promised every player that, should he get involved with gambling, that he WOULD be banned from the game for life.

I suppose Pete thought he was above such things. He was arrogant in that way, and really, that same kind of arrogance may have been what made him such a great player given his rather pedestrian skill set.

I am certain he gambled on baseball. I am certain he gambled on his own team. Yet I am 100% certain he bet on his team to win.

For years, I felt no pity for him. He made his own bed. Thanks to his friends Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt, Rose finally did get a meeting with the Commissioner of Baseball, Peter Seitz. In that meeting, he was told that, in order to get back in baseball’s good graces, he would need to cease any association with gambling and gamblers. That was made very clear to him,

Pete went directly from that meeting with Seitz to Las Vegas to sign autographs and kibitz with his gambling buddies. That’s self-destructive behavior if I’ve ever seen it.

But things are different in baseball today. After a century of decrying the evils of gambling, now I have to sit through ad after ad PROMOTING gambling. The announcers at each game even have the audacity to give the odds of “Alec Bohm driving in a run tonight” or “Aaron Nola getting seven strikeouts or more tonight.”

I find it infuriating, and I find it hypocritical.

How can baseball or anyone else now keep Rose out of the Hall of Fame if they are literally IN BED with gambling on a nightly basis? How long will it be before some addle-brained superstar gets in knee-deep with the wrong people and gets himself banished from the game? You already came dangerously close with the Ohtani mess.

In closing, I have the following advice for baseball: 1) get all this gambling bullshit off the air every night and away from the game; or 2) put the goddamned guy in the Hall of Fame where he belongs. Shoeless Joe, too, for that matter.

It’s just common sense.

Calling A Violation

My dear cousins and me had a text chain going. It was all about our family and about a Cousins Dinner that is held in Jersey several times per year. This message is for them. It is NOT political.

We all grew up the children of five wonderful women who raised us all pretty much collectively. I can only speak for my mom when I say that I never heard politics discussed in the household. The only things I can remember are discussions of JFK and RFK when they were assassinated. My mother loved them both, and I believe all of our parents were lifelong Democrats. But that's not the point.

When one of my cousins posted a political cartoon on that text chain, I was very, very upset, and I openly apologize here to them all for my reaction, which was heated. But I need to explain WHY it was heated, and what it meant.

We certainly have different views of the current political landscape, and you are all well aware of mine. But I never, ever shared those views in the text chain, because to me, that is scared. It's like a digital version of our family homes when were growing up — all about family, not politics. Most of the conversations my mom had back in the day in her kitchen were about Aunt Rosie, Aunt Millie, Auto Mary and Aunt Lulu and their kids. That was their focus, and their "life's work," as it were.

Times are different now. We are scattered around the country and cannot spend each weekend visiting each other like in the old days. There are responsibilities to attend to and lives to live. But we CAN connect digitally, share old stories, and spend time together via text chains like this, and via other digital means.

And that's why that text upset me so much. To me, it violated a sacred trust and destroyed a "safe haven" for me. I have ZERO problem with any of you posting your political views on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, wherever. There I am able to mute or block them should I not agree with them. And I do disagree MIGHTILY with some of you.

But here? In our "digital family home?" That just wasn't right. And honestly, I think you all agree with me on that point, though I know some of you most certainly do NOT agree with me politically. Which is fine.

The basic message here is that we should all stay in our lane when it comes to family conversations. If you wanna argue on Facebook or one-on-one, bring it. I am happy to handle myself in either forum, if need be. I have receipts.

Here in the safe space, though, let's talk about who's mother made the best meatballs, please.

Love you all.