Pete Rose Talks Reds 2020 Season

[dougdirt]

But this is not the same as the 1919 World Series where the outcome was determined by greed. This was a byproduct of the 1919 World Series where baseball will not tolerate actions that will even remotely cause the integrity to be questioned.

If you don't think Cincinnati Reds games managed by Pete Rose didn't have outcomes altered by greed, I don't know what to tell you.

He bet on games while managing. He didn't bet on others. You think he wasn't doing things differently in some games than others? Those choices altered game outcomes. And why did he make those choices? For the greed of money, via gambling.

[Bruce Berenyi]

complete agree,, he ruined the careers of multiple players, which is under reported

[Rdirtypirates]

Just like the statues that need to be torn down, we can acknowledge their existence and also not honor them along the way. Pete Rose existed. He was stupid amounts of good at baseball. That doesn't mean we should honor him given all of the terrible stuff he did to the game, and outside of the game.

I don't HATE you or anyone for acknowledging his existence. I get frustrated that somehow his sportsball accomplishments mean to many that anything else he did, no matter how bad, should just be accepted and not cause some reflection on the celebration of said person.

Pete Rose is a despicable human being. I agree 100% with you, but it is a lot more than Cincinnati who has this infatuation with Pete. You bashing the city I presume you live in, work in, and make your life at is pretty ironic. If you don't like the city you are free to move anywhere. It is not so much your dislike of Rose that turns me off, but rather the attitude you attack it with. I just believe it turns people off.

[bm1475]

It's a puff piece about the upcoming season. The Reds didn't ask him to talk about the team, some news channel did. Unfortunately Pete was a bad dude who happened to be the hero of thousands of Cincinnatians and until Pete is dead and everyone who idolized him is, too (this occurrence is closer to reality with each passing day/year, by the way), you're going to keep hearing about him. Why Doug feels the need to pick this argument every. single. time. his. name. comes. up. is beyond me, but sometimes it's better for your health to leave it well enough alone. I understand disliking it when the Reds put up a statue, retire his number or otherwise honor him, but in terms of "things involving Pete since he was banned," this article is PRETTY far down the list.

To me, the deification of every aspect of the Big Red Machine has been detrimental to the franchise over the last 15 years or so, but I don't throw a tantrum every time it happens (which, by the way, between anniversaries, jersey retirements, statues being unveiled, reunions and some other occasions I'm probably forgetting, takes place pretty much every single summer now). The Reds have (81 x 42,319) tickets to sell and sometimes the Marlins are going to be in town on an August weekend and you gotta do what you gotta do.

Just my two cents.

[forfreelin04]

Roy, if ignoring that Pete Rose is a disgrace to the city, the franchise, and the game that I love means getting more customers, I'm cool with less customers. I am not going to sit back and pretend that he isn't who he is and that he hasn't done all of the trash that he's done.

[foster15]

If you don't think Cincinnati Reds games managed by Pete Rose didn't have outcomes altered by greed, I don't know what to tell you.

He bet on games while managing. He didn't bet on others. You think he wasn't doing things differently in some games than others? Those choices altered game outcomes. And why did he make those choices? For the greed of money, via gambling.

Perhaps you missed the part where I said he hurt the Reds. But my point is I never heard anyone say they will quit following MLB because Pete Rose proved it was fixed. And believe me, I'm not sticking up for Rose, just saying the consequences to the game were overstated by you as it most likely had the opposite effect when it re-enforced the notion that MLB will not tolerate in the slightest any action that will call into question the integrity of the outcome of games. Of course, what hurt the game was when MLB decided to ignore the steroid era and allowed records to be shattered due to drugs.

Pete Rose is not intelligent. Pete Rose is weak when it comes to needing adrenaline rushes and I believe that's what drove him to gamble to the point that he broke the cardinal rule of baseball. So greed seeped in yes. But his actions were not originated by greed. Compared to the players of the 1919 White Sox that didn't have a gambling problem, they had a greed problem.

[Bunting Bad]

There are many plaques in the baseball hall of fame that honor men that would never have quailified for a humanitarian of the year award. Do we start removing them one by one. Who decides who stays and who goes? I know there was a vote, but in some cases that happened many years ago. Are the rules different now?

[westofyou]

Pete Rose is boring now, wasn't back in the day that's for sure. It's been 31 years since he was suspended and I'm bored with him now. Every now and then I watch some old Pete footage and I'm not bored. Doesn't mean I condone his actions in anyway, nor does it mean I celebrate his non baseball actions.

But fighting about Pete Rose two days from the longest stretch of non baseball I've ever experience in my life is about as uninteresting as it gets

[dubc47834]

He is such a disgrace to the city and the game, the city named streets after him and the franchise built statues honoring him. I am fine with you or anyone having a negative opinion of Pete, but it is ironic you suggest it is related to your love for the game.....while the game that you know stands on the shoulders of baseball giants like Pete Rose.

It's all about $$$. I think money is behind a lot of these decisions. In Cincy, Pete Rose puts butts in seats, and dollars in the owners pockets. I think Pete is a slime ball and a turd, but I also have no problems with Cincy or the Reds making money off of him either.

[Strikes Out Looking]

Can't we just talk about Adam Dunn and trade instead?

[Bourgeois Zee]

But let's get one thing straight. Pete Rose did not do "terrible stuff" to the game. Baseball did not suffer because of Pete Rose.

Yes, he did.

Yes, it did.

[foster15]

Yes, he did.

Yes, it did.

Gee, what an imformative well thought out reply. Care to elaborate on how the game was hurt by Pete Rose? Did it cost the game its perceived integrity? Did it cost the game money? Did it cost the game fans? Did it cost the game TV revenue?

How did Pete Rose hurt the game? Please, elaborate.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Gee, what an imformative well thought out reply. Care to elaborate on how the game was hurt by Pete Rose? Did it cost the game it's perceived integrity? Did it cost the game money? Did it cost the game fans? Did it cost the team game TV revenue?

Please, elaborate.

Rose bet on the game. Betting on game outcomes robs the game of integrity. We can't be certain, for example, if Rose purposefully pulled an effective pitcher or hitter in order to lose a game. It certainly cost the game (and the Reds) fans. Attendance dropped by almost two hundred thousand in the midst of the accusations, from 2.1M to 1.9. Anecdotally, my grand uncle was a 20-year season ticket holder who stopped watching them completely in 1989. (I got most of their cool stuff, including a couple seat backs from Crosley Field.)

A manager betting on the game in which he manged is certainly more damaging than steroids. At least the steroid guys still have to perform-- swing the bat, run the bases, throw the ball. And they have to be successful. Rose could mess up and make money. Lots of it. He also had more control over more decisions than did any player. (Torpedoing a game is relatively easy if you decide who hits and who pitches.)

Did he cost the Reds wins? I think it's pretty obvious that he did. How much better would they have done without that cloud over their heads in 1989? They were a perennial second place squad and an extremely talented group who finished 5th while dealing with Rose's gambling issues. The next season, with Piniella at the helm, they won it all. You think they finish 5th in the West in a "normal" season?

And, since wins equal revenue (and attendance), it absolutely cost the Reds (and MLB) revenue. In 1989, the Reds had 1.9M come to games. The year before, it was over two million. The year before that was over two million too. (The year after he left, 1990, they had 2.4M show up.) We're talking a couple hundred thousand people just at home games.

[bucksfan2]

Can't we just talk about Adam Dunn and trade instead?

The Adam Dunn trade was about as inconsequential as it gets.

Now if you want to talk about the Josh Hamilton trade, have at it!

[dougdirt]

There are many plaques in the baseball hall of fame that honor men that would never have quailified for a humanitarian of the year award. Do we start removing them one by one. Who decides who stays and who goes? I know there was a vote, but in some cases that happened many years ago. Are the rules different now?

Yes.