“A disgusting human being on so many levels.”
That’s pretty harsh but I don’t disagree. He definitely was a character and probably a liar when confronted with the curse of his gambling forays...
And, his foray with a 15 or 16 year old girl when he was a married 34 year old.
I agree. The part I found most disgusting about the gambling incident wasn't so much that he lied about it, but he also savaged and slandered John Dowd, who gathered the evidence and was proven to be 100% correct. Pete knew Dowd was correct, yet he tried to destroy his reputation at every opportunity for years. To my knowledge, he never apologized to him for that.
I never liked Rose after he plowed into catcher Ray Fossi in that stupid, useless ALL Star game. Ruined the kid’s life and career. Now, all professional All Star games are just a meet-and-greet exhibition for multi millionaires.
Is that the criteria for getting into the hall of fame?
One of the greatest baseball players of all time!
THAT alone is enough, regardless of his personal life.
Gambled on sports games? WOW, I’ll bet (pun intended) that he’s not the only player to do that. Hall of famers included.
“17x All-Star, the only player in MLB history to do so at 5 different positions:
All-Star first baseman
All-Star second baseman
All-Star third baseman
All-Star left fielder
All-Star right fielder”
“It stands uncontested as the most famous lineup in Reds history: Johnny Bench behind the plate, an infield comprised of Tony Perez at first base, Joe Morgan at second base, David Concepcion at shortstop and Pete Rose at third base with an outfield comprised of Ken Griffey in right, Cesar Geronimo in center and George Foster in left. It is this group that powered the Big Red Machine to consecutive World Championships in 1975 and 1976 and it is this group that made the Machine one of the greatest teams the game has ever seen.”
https://www.mlb.com/reds/hall-of-fame/history/great-eight