Labor Day – an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. In a stretch of the imagination, professional athletes are “laborers” of sorts. Well, they get paid to play as most of us are envious. My Western Auto blue glove and gold aluminum bat were hung up decades ago and the baseball diamond did not hold the riches and glory for me beyond South Sunflower County All Star in 1976. Basketball and football professional careers ended before they began for me as well. Lack of sufficient talent was cited in the obituary. My Pete Rose/John Havlicek/Nick Buoniconti dreams were not to be.
Of the three, Pete isn’t in his sport’s Hall of Fame despite what he did as a player. But he “labored” quite well on the baseball diamond. Let’s investigate and look at a different side of the Hall of Fame.
Pete Edward Rose Jr. – aka “Charlie Hustle” – played Major League baseball from 1963 to 1986.
His career stats include playing in 3,562 games for three teams – the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and a stop with the Montreal Expos. In his 14,053 at bats, he accumulated 4,256 hits (the most all time) and scored 2,165 runs while adding up 1,314 runs batted in. He walked 1,566 times in his career, and struck out 1,143 times at the plate. He hit 160 home runs and stole 198 bases.
Hall of Fame-worthy stats, no doubt. But on January 8, 2004, Rose admitted publicly to betting on baseball games and other sports while playing for and managing the Reds. He also admitted to betting on Reds games but said he never bet against the team. Rose repeated his admissions in an interview on the ABC news program Primetime Thursday. Rose bet on baseball and well, folks found out, he wasn’t sorry even though there’s a rule that’s actually printed out and up on the wall for all to see in every MLB clubhouse. He got a lifetime ban and anyone under a lifetime ban cannot be voted on for the MLB Hall of Fame.
He wrote a book and apologized in it for his actions. He apologized to his teammates in a function more than a decade ago. Reporters covering it said it was not the scripted Rose they had experienced in the past. But he’s still out of the Hall. I haven’t heard him say he’s sorry lately – or maybe I wasn’t listening when he said it. His actions of betting speak louder than his words.
He’s a 17-time National League All Star, Rookie of the Year, five-time winner of the Reds’ MVP, and has other awards I’ve never heard of but have to be impressive. In the 1970s when you played baseball, everybody admired Charlie Hustle and wanted to
