Posted on 01/08/2004 2:51:25 PM PST by GeneD
NEW YORK (AP) -- Occasionally contrite but repeatedly the defiant, belligerent spark plug fans love, Pete Rose blames his accusers and medical conditions for the problems that got him kicked out of baseball.
Rose spills his thoughts in a colorful autobiography, "Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars," released Thursday by Rodale Inc. Rose, still banned 14 1/2 years later, also concedes for the first time that he bet on Cincinnati Reds games while he was manager in the late 1980s.
The highly touted 322-page book contains no other bombshells. It alternates between apologies for his wrongs and the aggressiveness Rose showed during a 24-season major league career.
Rose writes he has had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Behavior, which he says he got from his mother, and the book contains several quotes from a doctor about the effects. He repeats that he still loves to gamble legally at racetracks, and describes himself as "grumpy, short-tempered and cold-hearted."
He also talks about the emotional moment when he faced his family before going to prison and "humiliating body searches" in prison. He recounts anecdotes of his career such as taking an umpire to dinner after he was ejected from a game and makes a few puerile jokes.
He also compares his compulsive gambling to the behavior of former President Clinton, actors Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder, and blames former Reds manager Jack McKeon and general manager Jim Bowden for not giving Pete Rose Jr. enough of a chance when he played for Cincinnati in 1997.
On Wednesday, Rose insisted he didn't plan to draw attention away from the elections of Dennis Eckersley and Paul Molitor to baseball's Hall of Fame this week.
"I never intended to diminish the exciting news for these deserving players," Rose said in a statement.
What Rose intended for his public confession has gone terribly awry, former teammate Mike Schmidt said.
"It doesn't look good, it's taken a turn for the worse," Schmidt told the AP. "It is a sad thing. ... I haven't heard anything good, but I hope the commissioner is reserving judgment. I've heard some of the worst references about Pete."
Rose repeatedly challenges the report on his gambling by John Dowd and the accusations made by his former associates before he accepted a lifetime ban in August 1989.
Rose said at the time of the investigation, he couldn't believe the way baseball treated him, calling baseball's evidence "flimsy."
"I spent 24 years building a baseball career that other players could only dream of," he wrote.
"And I put it all at risk over the thrill of `risk' itself. I spent thousands of hours in the batting cage. I took hundreds of grounders and fly balls each day in an effort to master my craft. I was known for a diligent work ethic that was unequaled among my peers. Nobody worked harder or took the game more seriously than Pete Rose - nobody. Yet after knowing (Paul) Janszen for only seven months, I trusted him to place bets on the game I loved. How could I be so disciplined in one aspect of my life and so reckless in the other? ...
"I was Pete Rose - baseball's all-time Hit King. I had more records than anybody on the damn planet. Nothing could possibly be wrong with someone who achieved that much success - nothing! ... I was Charlie Hustle - baseball legend. I would not go down without a fight."
Rose writes about the day he went to federal prison in 1990 after pleading guilty to tax charges and talked to his son, Tyler, then 6.
"I had no answer for the betrayed look in Tyler's eyes," Rose wrote. "My dad never let me down on any level and failing my own son was too tough to handle. So hell, I started to cry, too - rare for me because, like I said, I'm not a warm-and-fuzzy guy. ... As you can imagine, this was the lowest point in my life."
He says that in prison, he was given identification No. 01832-061.
"I never thought I'd be wearing anything other than No. 14 on my back," Rose wrote, adding that guards "couldn't help but gawk at the sight of Charlie Hustle in lockdown."
Rose pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false income taxes by failing to report income and was sentenced to five months in prison, three months in a halfway house and 1,000 hours of community service.
"I'm probably the only person in America to go to jail for underpaying his taxes by 4 percent," Rose wrote. Then he added, "The responsibility rested squarely on my shoulders. I just wasn't ready to accept it."
The book quotes Dr. David E. Comings of the City of Hope National Medical Center on ADHD and how it applies to Rose.
"ADHD kids are very strong-willed. They don't like anyone telling them what to do," Comings said. "Although they can't sit still or focus on subjects of little or no interest, their restless energy when focused can by dynamite. Pete Rose is not unlike Einstein, who flunked English but excelled in math."
Rose says he hopes commissioner Bud Selig will grant his application for reinstatement.
"My actions, which I thought were benign, call the integrity of the game into question," Rose wrote. "And there's no excuse for that, but there's also no reason to punish me forever."
Rose blames former commissioner Fay Vincent for the 1991 rule that bars him from the Hall ballot and wants "to enjoy my Hall of Fame induction ceremony while I was still alive!"
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AP Sports Writers Joe Kay in Cincinnati and Ben Walker in New York contributed to this report
But, it's not a matter of "sufficient contrition." Major League Baseball's Rule 21 is simple and clear. The prescribed penalty for breaking it is permanent ineligibility. The Rule and its penalty have always been posted in every MLB clubhouse. Rose knew them both, and broke the Rule. In doing so, he willingly accepted permanent ineligibility. (It's as if he drove off a cliff and is steadfastly and belligerently surprised that the miraculous hand of God didn't save him from certain death.)
No amount of contrition can change the simple facts, regardless of whether he's the bullpen catcher or the all-time hits leader.
Totally agree here. I always considered him an over-rated, classless bum, and I knew him.
Rose-Fosse play in '70 lives on in infamy........ With the approach of the annual All-Star game, the media likes to revisit noteworthy midsummer classics of the past. Probably the most memorable All-Star Game play occurred on July 14, 1970. The score was tied, 4-4, with two out in the bottom of the 12th inning. Hits by the Reds' Pete Rose and the Dodgers' Billy Grabarkewitz put runners on first and second. Then, the Cubs' Jim Hickman singled to center. Kansas City's Amos Otis hurriedly fielded the ball in shallow center and heaved it toward the plate as Rose barreled around third. Rose then bowled over Indians rookie catcher Ray Fosse to score the winning run and end the game. It was the eighth straight victory for the National League.
Over the years, a lot of people have put their own spin on the story. It was a dirty play by a dirty player, they say; Rose ruined Fosse's career in a meaningless game.
Let's review exactly what happened in the play. Rose is approaching home plate with the potential winning run. He starts to go into his patented head-first slide, but then he realizes something: Fosse, 3 inches taller, 20 pounds heavier, and covered with protective gear, has the plate blocked as he awaits the ball — which, incidentally, is against the rules. Rose can either (a) go face-first into Fosse's shin guards and get tagged out; (b) tip-toe around Fosse and get tagged out; or (c) go through him to win the game. Rose chooses "c," aborting his slide and laying out Fosse to end it. It was a clean play, a winning play, and neither player criticized the other then or now — in Fosse's words, it was "a couple of aggressive ballplayers doing their jobs."
Fosse (along with Indians pitcher Sam McDowell) had been Rose's houseguest the night before, talking baseball until 3 a.m. After the game, both players involved in the collision were hospitalized, but Fosse was released before Rose. Fosse was back in the lineup the first game after the break; Rose didn't play again until July 19, five days after the collision, and he didn't hit with authority for several weeks afterward (three extra-base hits in his next 85 at-bats, as compared to 58 in 564 the rest of the year).
It has been written that Fosse suffered a separated shoulder in the collision, but that it went undiagnosed. Fosse continued to hit for average (he finished the season at .307), but with diminished power — he had 16 homers before the break but two after. He played through the 1979 season, but never really approached his first-year numbers. Of course, that's true of a lot of hot-shot rookies.
As for the "meaninglessness" of the All-Star game, the original premise was "Let's pick the best players in each league, match them against each other, play for pride and glory, and see which league comes out on top." Somewhere over the past 25 years, it became "Let's find good players who don't want a three-day vacation, trot them out there for two or three innings each, encourage them to clown around, and play until they've had enough." Many people seem to prefer the latter; I don't. We'll see if the new rule — giving the winning league home-field advantage in the World Series — makes a difference.
Now, that's the REAL story. Gambling most likely had nothing to do with it.
Now I'm REALLY convinced Rose is a Democrat. Typical - blame everyone else but yourself.
IIRC, Pete Rose Jr. not only wasn't a very good player, but he was also a rather poignant figure -- it was pretty obvious he was in baseball to get his father's attention. And even then, his father still didn't give him much attention.
FWIW, Jimmy Carter has been fairly vocal about wanting Rose in the HOF, and back in baseball. Figures.
The worst hits that I've ever taken as a catcher (in high school, Babe Ruth, and college baseball and in league softball) were in Church League games. I once had to take 18 months off to allow my left knee to heal before I could pay again. I was blocking home plate and the throw came in from the cutoff man high. Instead of just letting it go, I went up on my left leg to pull it down and the runner slammed into me while I was planted and extended.
Using the situation of this game to block Pete Rose from the HOF is an insult to a fine catcher and one who knew the risks in that position.
Rose went through Fosse to win the game because that is the only way he played the game. As was pointed out in the other post, replays show Rose started a headfirst slide and then stayed on his feet when he saw Fosse had the plate blocked.
God, that hurts just envisioning it! BTW, I was a centerfielder. I used to envy you catchers in a wasy, you were always in the very middle of the game.
I was on third base , we had the bases loaded, no outs in a baseball game once at Pitt. There was a weak grounder to third, I was coming home to break up a possible double play (third base, to home, back to first base). So I came in standing up ran into this huge catcher, fell in a heap in the dirt at his feet, and he finished the double play by throwing to first. He hardly even flinched. Every time I think of it 35 years later, it's funny, but not that night! Ha!
LOL!
Maybe someday we'll know for sure one way or the other. Until then, in my mind the burden is on Rose to prove otherwise.
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