Final Card Friday: 1986 Pete Rose

Even though he bet on baseball, lied about it for years, probably used corked bats, and committed tax evasion, I still like Pete Rose. He’s a terribly flawed, tragic hero. He’s the Oedipus of Major League Baseball history, who was blind to the truth for so long. The past few years, it seems like Rose has accepted the realities of his situation, but it’s too little too late. He now seems doomed to always be on the outside, looking into baseball immortality.  Granted, Rose deserves what’s happened to him. However, baseball does not deserve it. On recent visits to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I’ve always felt a subtle emptiness. It’s the emptiness of the all-time hit leader not being in the Hall of Fame…as well as the all-time home run leader. I wish there was a way the accomplishments of Rose and Barry Bonds could be honored without recognizing the mistakes of the men, but that’s probably not possible.

Pete Rose’s final APBA card is extremely accurate. It’d be a good bet to hit .218 in 272 rolls.  Yet, for the all-time hit leader, it’s a disappointing ending to a 24 year career. When the Cincinnati Reds dropped Rose from the 40-man roster, he was only hitting .219 as the player-manager/first baseman.  If the National League had a DH, maybe Rose would have continued longer. Considering he was 45 years old, .219 is not too bad. However, the Reds were moving in a new direction and were only four years from a World Series Championship.

My first memories of Pete Rose was seeing replays of the 1970 All-Star Game when he barreled Ray Fosse like a running back fighting for a touchdown.  At the time, it was a legal play. Of course, in today’s MLB, it would be illegal and Rose would have been called out.  If it was a high school or collegiate game, he would have been ejected.  I’m sure Fosse has thought about how his career would have been different if today’s rules would have been in effect during that game.

The only time I recall seeing Rose play was during the 1983 World Series.  As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I thought it was fantastic to see former Big Red Machine players Rose, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez live on television.  After the 1983 Fall Classic, my only other memory of Charlie Hustle during his playing days was watching the highlights of him breaking Ty Cobb’s hit record on This Week in Baseball.  Of course, in those days, every game was not televised. There were only a handful of nationally televised regular season games each year and Rose’s record breaking game against the San Diego Padres wasn’t one of them.

There’s no doubt Pete Rose is a divisive figure.  When I think of Rose, I try to think of his baseball intelligence, line-drive swings from both sides of the plate, and the intense, reckless abandon in which he played.  When Pete Rose was on the field, he was great for baseball. Unfortunately, he was bad for baseball when he left the ballpark.