Rest in peace Pete Rose
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Well, it was always described as banned for life, so .......
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“Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
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Pete Rose cover 25
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@BLAISEBLAISE_PSN said in Rest in peace Pete Rose:
Pete Rose cover 25
With Wander Franco, Mel Hall, and Felipe Vázquez.
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NO!
It is shocking how so many of you fail to comprehend the magnitude of what Pete Rose did to destroy his legacy. Rose not only broke the most cardinal law in baseball hundreds of times, he lied about it hundreds of times. Moreover, when the then MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti suspended Rose for life, based on a mountain of phone call records with bookies, dozens of detailed affidavits from bookies, and a ton of additional evidence, Rose continued to lie.
Giamatti didn't want to ban Rose. He repeatedly offered Rose sweetheart deals that would have allowed him to be reinstated after a year or so, but Rose stiff armed Giamatti and denied the veracity of MLB's evidence. This collectively and literally broke Giamatti's heart. Most everyone who knew him said it literally killed him as he died at age 51 just weeks after suspending Rose for life because Rose bulldog stubbornly refused any contrition, apology, or cooperation.
When Fay Vincent took over as MLB Commissioner when Giamatti died, it was very personal with Vincent, who was Giamatti's deputy. Vincent blamed Rose for the death, and despite that extended additional opportunities for Rose to come clean and help restore his legacy enough to earn a second chance. But, again, Rose refused all offers, going on a public relations campaign to say he was totally innocent and that MLB had unfairly attacked him.
Even for Rose's closest friends, this was too much. This is why Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan both went public and stated that as long as they had anything to say about it, Pete Rose would never be in the Hall of Fame. In short, it wasn't merely the betting on baseball, including Reds games while he was player-manager, it was his outrageous refusal to own up to it and forcing Giamatti to do something he desperately wanted to avoid doing and dying young because of having done it.
By the time Rose finally got around to admitting what everyone knew, it was far too late. He had already left a path of personal destruction behind him. Giamatti loved baseball, loved Pete Rose, and begged Rose to help him keep Rose a meaningful part of baseball after a reasonable suspension. Rose's action barred all that. Giamatti was in office as commissioner for only five months to the day before he died.
That's Rose's legacy, and it has left scars and anger that are very visceral. He got what he deserved, and he will never be in the Hall of Fame because of his actions.
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@PriorFir4383355_XBL Giamatti died shortly after this too. His son is one of the best actors in the world and has been for quite some time.
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@PriorFir4383355_XBL for the record Giamatti was a chain smoker so I think all a’ them cigabutts probably also did some damage too.
Also Pete Rose, while an amazing baseball player, did a few other pretty crappy things apart from the betting stuff. I mean, what an extremely interesting and colorful roller-coaster of a life though.
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It's very unusual and rare for even a heavy chain smoker to die of heart failure at the age of 51. What killed Giamatti was the extreme stress of having the Pete Rose situation as one of his very first acts as MLB Commissioner.
If Giamatti was in his sixties, or if he died of lung cancer, then yes, smoking could well have been the prime cause. I don't think it is easy for people to appreciate how being in the public crosshairs for being the "bad" guy who suspended Rose from baseball for life, while Rose uses all his public good name to lie through his teeth to say MLB is treating him unfairly and falsely accusing him of betting, can cause someone's stress level to rise to a deadly level.
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@theBlindRhino_PSN said in Rest in peace Pete Rose:
“Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
Thank the Lord for Ippei's sacrifice
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@PriorFir4383355_XBL I agree with your general point, and I’m truly not trying to be argumentative. However, I’ll also spare you how graphically they’re spelling it out on cigarette warning labels these days. As much as William Morris would love to hear otherwise (lord knows they spent the moolah trying to), I do not believe congestive heart failure (yes, among other ailments) is that all that uncommon in smokers, even under 60. 50 year old Stieg Larssen (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s author) famously jumps to mind.
Listen, Pete Rose was no angel (but he was an expo once) but personally I don’t think it’s fair to imply he single-handedly killed a man. I do agree he certainly (and selfishly) caused a man with an extremely stressful job to have quite a good bit of stress at his work.
