Rose By Any Other Name

………. “Just because you are a Character doesn’t mean you have Character.”  The Wolf (Harvey Keitel), in Pulp Fiction.

            Pete Rose certainly performed as a memorable character on the fields of Major League Baseball.   He rose to the highest level of stardom; his descent after his playing career proved just as dramatic.  

            As an 18 year-old, Rose was not on anyone’s baseball radar. He was signed by his home team Cincinnati Reds only after persistent urging from a scout with a family connection.  Yet, after starting in the minor league’s lowest rung, the local kid made his hometown team in just three years and earned plaudits as the National League’s Rookie of the Year.

            His prolific baseball career as a batsmen and fielder—he played five different defensive positions in his 24-year career in baseball—proved how difficult it is for scouts to judge who possess sufficient talent and determination to succeed in the game.  The man called Charlie Hustle possessed the latter trait in abundance, which fueled his iron will to compete and win.

            His accomplishments list long, but a few suffice to paint a picture:  most career hits in major league history; three batting crowns; league MVP in 1973; World Series MVP in 1975; an NL record 44 game hitting streak; most game played on a winning team, with three world championship rings to boot.

            But like many tragedies, Rose’s self-inflicted his own demise.   His maniacal will to win carried him to heights that exceeded his talent proved to be what ancient Greeks called hamartia, or a fatal flaw.  His insatiable drive to compete morphed into hubris, which led to his overstepping boundaries, defying moral codes and disregarding warnings that set the stage for tragedy.

            His fierce will to win propelled him through obstacles both literally when he bulldozed Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game, and figuratively when he steamrolled any rules that should have blocked him.  That trait was revealed early on when he left his own wedding reception to accept a baseball award.  Such selfishness continued through a life of philandering that included an illegitimate child, and a sexual relationship with an underage teenager who was less than half his age.  What Pete Rose wanted, Pete Rose did.

            Sigmund Freud introduced the theory of Id, Ego and Super Ego into the jargon of human psychology.  Kendra Cherry, a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, wrote that Freud compared Id to a horse, and Ego to the horse’s rider. The horse provides power and motion, while the rider provides direction and guidance. Without its rider, the horse wanders wherever it wishes and does whatever it pleases.  Rose proved to be a riderless horse. 

            Ultimately, nothing could rein in his gambling addiction that fed his need to Win.  Ironically, his addiction started with horse raising, and expanded from there.  His addiction spilled over to baseball, the game he knew intimately and offered him the best chance to win.

            Hubris enabled him to chisel one of his numbers’ runners when he only paid Paul Janszen 25 cents on the dollar on what was owed.   The disgruntled Janszen turned evidence of Rose’s gambling on baseball that led to the iconic Cincinnati Reds’ Manger’s downfall.

            Even when caught ‘red handed’ for betting on his own team, Rose’s obstinacy that served him well during his career grounded him when he refused to admit his errors.   He lied for years afterwards that he did not bet on baseball, which impugned the honor of those in Baseball, and the special prosecutor, who told the truth.  As the old saying goes:  He lied when the truth would work better. He later served time for income tax evasion.  When Rose finally confessed that he bet on baseball, he did so via his new book from which he financially profited.

            It may prove difficult to counter those who push for the posthumous admission of a holder of so many baseball records into the Hall of Fame.   Rose bet on baseball, but Major League Baseball now actively promotes gambling to enhance its already wondrously profitable business.  Furthermore, ‘Charley Hustle’ never ‘threw a game’ ala Shoeless Joe Jackson who helped ‘fix’ the 1919 World Series.   However, though he only bet on his team to win, the fact that Rose sometimes opted not bet on selected Cincinnati games that he managed leaves unanswered questions.

            Whether or not the Hit King should be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame stands more of a philosophical question. His sterling statistics stand on their own merit notwithstanding being blackballed from admission into that ‘hallowed’ Hall.   Pete was right when he noted that no one will break his record for most career hits because no one will possess his drive to achieve that magical number of 4,256.  That same drive to hit and hustle helped his teams win.  

Perhaps a more important issue relates to his price for fame, of winning at all costs and ignoring any restraints that impeded his goals and desires.  Charley Hustle spent his last years chasing fees for autographing photographs and baseballs and campaigning for amnesty from Major League Baseball.  Seriously ailing, Pete kept moving and traveled to Nashville just before his death for still another autograph show demonstrating once again that he was a Rose by any other name—Determined; Unbridled; Relentless.  

The riderless horse then returned to his Las Vegas home where he finally found rest that signified the end of his life’s ride. 

paul lore