A Rose by any Other Name

 ESPN has come into possession of a notebook that looks to be a smoking gun—it shows that Pete Rose the player bet on ballgames in 1986.  Not that this really changes anything.  Rose is still without a plaque at Cooperstown, and he still comes off as a liar, or forgetful.

What struck me, though, was how at least part of his image persists.  Yesterday, a sportswriter in the Sun-Times described the all-time hits’ leader as someone who “succeeded through effort more than talent.”  Oh, come on.  The man collected 4256 hits, for crying out loud.  I can think of a whole bunch of players who always tried hard (Dick Green, Phil Garner, Tony Phillips) but came up a couple thousand hits or more short.  Rose had “all-star” if not “HOFer” written all over him by the age of 21.

In 1962, his third and final season in the minors, that Rose hit .330 with a .431 on-base percentage; he also scored 136 runs.  From the start, Pete Rose was an exceptional ballplayer.  What he lacked wasn’t talent but a moral compass.  There’s a difference.