The Innocence of Youth
My father was a baseball player, a pitcher. I was a third baseman and my son is an outfielder. Some of my best memories are of me playing catch with my friends, snaring a line drive to save a game, or watching my son get his first hit in little league.
Baseball is the finest game on earth -- well, it used to be. I remember when it was still our national game. My hero was Pete Rose. He was the toughest player on the field and hardest working man in baseball during the 1970's. He had ten 200-hit seasons, and collected 4,256 base hits in a career that featured headfirst sliding and bone crushing collisions at the plate. No one did more to win games than Pete. He was nicknamed Charlie Hustle for his work ethic, giving everything he had on each play. The fans loved him... still do. Even after he proved to be a gambling fool and lying slob, expelled from the game, incapable of admitting fault, the public still forgave him for reasons I've mentioned.
His stature is now as low as the game he once dominated. A game where players today switch teams and loyalties at the drop of a dollar. Ah, but that's kids stuff. My adult heroes are George Carlin, Hunter Thompson and Clint Eastwood. Hang in there, Clint. You're the last one left.
Comments
A class act if ever there was one.
Best name ever... Mini Minoso. Not sure of the spelling, but what a cool old cat... played until he was 50 I believe. Started in the Negro Leagues and finished with the White Sox.
Funniest name: Biff Pocoroba, old catcher for the Braves.
As for Barry Bond, I think MLB wants to have it both ways... they looked the other way when Mark McGuire was selling tickets, but are holding Barry to a different standard now that the media and public have caught on to steroid abuse. Barry was just working within the system that MLB created by allowing it. It all sucks, because Pete played fair & square, and we miss seeing players like him. It was just his tough luck that he was a dumb-ass and got kicked out of the game. =)
Maybe.
Sorry for taking up so much space in your blog posts today, but you wrote about two things that I'm really passionate about, and the comments were all just too compelling to resist!
The difference between Pete Rose and some of the rest of the ilk is that he didn't bet on baseball as a player. Only after he retired from play and became a manager. It's still horrible what he did, but to me at least, that is a mitigating factor. Also, as Mr Vein alluded to in his post, Pete Rose was a breed of player virtually unseen today. He gave 110% every game. It was his motto. So many of today's players couldn't carry Pete's jock, so to speak. Barry Bonds would have been a lock for the Hall of Fame before he injected his first steroid. His numbers were that good. It's sad that he felt compelled to cheat in order to pad them.
I think it would be appropriate to let Pete Rose into the Hall in 2010, after he's been kept out for 20 years. If Barry Bonds has truly retired, let him be banned for 20 years as well. There's a big difference between being voted in at 50 and voted in at 70.
Pete Rose should never, ever, ever get elected into the HOF. Unfortunately, I believe that he will eventually be inducted. I also believe that Barry, Mark and Clemens will get in eventually too. Sad. These players are the scum of the scum of professional athletes and comparing them to players in the past does NOT excuse or rationalize their terrible behavior. Rose lied for years saying that he never bet on baseball, then lied for more years saying that he never bet on the Reds, and is now saying he always bet on them to win.......as if that matters and makes everything all right. Really? It's OK for him to leave a relief pitcher in too long to get that crucial save when the team is 10 games out in September, the closer is dog tired and looking at Tommy John surgery if Rose doesn't get him out of the game? He can't take him out, he has to win this game because he has a huge bet riding on it and he has lost all his other bets for the day!! Don't think that messed up a few careers? It did, you can bet on it.
I won't even get into Barry, he's just a terrible human being. Mark is a liar.
And here's the saddest part of it all....Pete was my first baseball role model and I loved him. Later, I rooted for McGwire and the A's cause I am from the area. Barry at least acted like a jerk from the beginning, so I never gave him a thought.
I loved your blog, Street Vein, and I am glad it generated some discussion. But for every comment you get supporting Rose or any other baseball cheater, there are thousands of us out here that just wish he, and his kind, would just go away and never be heard from again. Kinda like O.J.