Sports Junkie

Quick Take

Okay, so the ongoing picture of me in The Acorn wasn’t exactly current; it was taken at my public school graduation in St. Louis when I was 13. On Feb. 6, I’ll be 65 years old. I share that birth date with three lesser known people: Babe Ruth, Ronald Reagan and Neil Kessler. You’ve probably heard of Ruth and Reagan, but not Kessler. The latter and I have been friends—since the sixth grade. Neil and his wife, Diane, will join me here in Las Vegas for yet another birthday. I used to think 65 was a speed limit; now it’s my age. But it beats the alternative.

Like Pete Rose, I’m "coming clean" with you, and my motive is not to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Acorn will now run an almost-current picture of me with the Sports Junkie column; it was taken three years ago.

So you can stop with the e-mails regarding my misrepresentation. Anyway, I still look 15 years younger than I am, so as Burt Reynolds told Eddie Albert at the end of one of the best sports-related movies of all time, "The Longest Yard," put that in your trophy case!

Story of the Week

Almost everything that can be written and said about this American tragedy, Pete Rose, has been written and said, including my column dated June 13, 2002 (please refer to my Website).

I’d like to put an exclamation mark on the subject.

Pete Rose is a disgrace to Major League Baseball. In 1989, he wrote the book "My Story" in which he vehemently denied ever having bet on baseball games while a figure in the game. He’s spent the past 14-plus years telling this lie. He’s now on record as having bet on baseball while participating in the game. His timing is perfect—500,000 copies of his new book "My Prison Without Bars" have just been printed for sale and that’s just the beginning.

I’ll never forget the day he went on television, looked directly into the camera and told the gullible American public that he "never had sex with that woman." Oh, wait, I temporarily had him confused with another upstanding citizen and role model, Curveball Willie.

You can readily understand how I could confuse the two of them: no matter what their actions, they both say what’s most propitious at the time.

As a point of clarification, betting on baseball is not a crime. But it’s a rule in baseball, and by virtue of same, the game’s participants must honor it. And even if Rose didn’t bet against his team (I wouldn’t bet my life on it, pardon the play on words), he was still helping the bookies if he didn’t bet each and every game. (When Rose "laid off" a game involving his team, it was a clear and distinct message that he felt the opposition was the best bet on that specific game). Also, whether he did or didn’t place his bets from the team clubhouse is superfluous—it doesn’t matter where he did it if he did it.

Having made my share of mistakes in my life, I’m all for forgiving and moving forward. But Pete Rose, in my view, is a despicable human being. He knew gambling on games was against Major League rules, but for 14-plus years, he had us believe that he was innocent.

He has absolutely no respect or appreciation for the hand that fed him so very well all those years, namely Major League baseball. Pete Rose should be banned from any future participation in the game. He’s now "coming clean" because he wants to be voted into the Hall of Fame, because he wants to manage again and because he wants to sell lots and lots of his new book.

Charlie Hustle is Charlie Hustler. To quote Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Enquirer, Pete Rose hasn’t changed—only his story has.

Okay, now I’ve banned him from baseball for life, the deal he agreed to years ago. Now for the flip-side: He is baseball’s top hit-maker of all time. He hit safely an incredible 4,256 times. He compiled a lifetime batting average of .303 to go along with all those hits during his 24-year playing career. He played the game the way it should be played; no one has ever played the game with a greater passion and intensity than did Pete Rose. He was a bona-fide winner as a player. In 1999, Pete Rose was named a member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. And I named him to my all time fantasy baseball team (the latter is obviously the ultimate honor, far greater than the Hall of Fame).

So how do you keep this guy out of the Hall of Fame? You don’t! By virtue of what he accomplished as a player, Pete Rose clearly belongs in the Hall. However, if there is any proof at all that he bet against his team, either as a player or a manager, he should be hung from the tree nearest the main entrance to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Last Week’s Trivia

Who set a Major League record with 24 hits in 14 postseason games one year? In that same year, he was MVP in the LCS. In 1986, Boston’s second baseman, Marty Barrett, got 11 hits against the Angels in the ALCS and 13 hits against the Mets in the World Series.

Trivia Question of the Week

Who holds the NFL rookie record for touchdowns? See next week’s Sports Junkie for the answer.

Visit the Sports Junkie Website at www.sportsjunkie.info.