Latest Pete Rose Controversy Questions the Legitimacy of His Legacy
Pete Rose. To say that he is a controversial figure is an understatement. The mere mention of his name evokes strong emotional reactions, and not just from baseball fans. Some people are extremely loyal to him. He belongs in the Hall of Fame, and nothing will change their minds about that. Some believe that he is a deeply flawed person, who doesn't deserve to be honored in his lifetime. But, because his accomplishments on the field are so impressive, he does deserve enshrinement in the Hall, but only posthumously. And then you have the people who feel betrayed by Rose, who find his moral character repugnant, that they have concluded that he should never be honored with Hall of Fame enshrinement. Some in this category go so far as to try to minimize his professional accomplishments.
For example, in 2016, Ichiro Sukui, an incredible hitter in his own right, passed 4,257 hits in his entire professional career. Of course, this included not only Major League Baseball, but also Suzuki's playing time in Japan. Despite the differences in the quality of the leagues, some excitedly proclaimed Suzuki the new hit king. Their exuberance in having a person of greater moral character to push Pete Rose off of his throne could hardly be contained.
I grew up in the 1970s. I can remember going to Veterans Stadium as early as 1976, barely before I started kindergarten. My family was a baseball family, and I jokingly say I grew up in Veterans Stadium. Pete Rose was one of my favorite ball players. As much as I still love Mike Schmidt, Gary Maddox, Steve Carlton and Greg Luzinski, Pete Rose was that fabulous player who got that team over the hump. His scrappy style of play, and never give up attitude is what pushed the Phillies to win their first World Championship in their ninety-six year history.
For a long time, I was firmly in that first category. Yes, I was disappointed when it was revealed that Rose bet on baseball. But to me, he had served his time, quite literally in prison for tax evasion, no one had ever proven that he bet against his own team and threw games on purpose, and his hitting prowess still stood as a testament to the fact that he was a rare baseball talent. He deserved Hall of Fame enshrinement.
To that end, I was anxiously awaiting the day in 2017, when Peter Rose was finally going to be recognized officially by the Phillies by being placed on their Wall of Fame. The year before, I had worked on my kids, laying hints, to prompt them to work with their grandparents to get me a Pete Rose jersey for Father's Day. Even though I live in Northern Virginia now, I had my ticket ready. I planned on wearing that jersey for its Citizen Bank Park debut on the day Rose was to be honored.
And then the news broke. You see, Pete Rose had filed a lawsuit against John Dowd, who was the lawyer hired by MLB to investigate Rose's gambling. In 2015, during a radio interview, Dowd claimed that Pete Rose had committed statutory rape. Rose filed a defamation claim against Dowd. The suit progressed in the background for two years. Then, about two weeks before the scheduled ceremony at CBP, news broke that a woman testified through an affidavit that she had a sexual affair with Pete Rose in the 1970s which started when she was fourteen or fifteen years old. Rose's response? She was sixteen when he started the affair, which was the age of consent in Ohio at the time.
. . .
It took me a while to wrap my head around this. At the time, I desperately wanted the ceremony to go forward. Pete Rose was a hero of mine. Sure, this was a moral transgression, but it didn't diminish what he did at the plate. After all, Hall of Famer Cap Anson married a thirteen year old.
But eventually, it sunk in. Pete Rose was thirty-four years old, a married man and a father when he had sexual relations with a girl who had not finished high school. I couldn't get past that, and my attitude towards Rose changed. I no longer thought he deserved the honor of being inducted into the Hall of Fame during his lifetime. His play on the field still stood as a special accomplishment. Because the integrity of that had not been questioned, I believed that one day, perhaps Rose could be welcomed into Cooperstown, but not while he was alive to enjoy it.
The Hall of Fame apparently walks the tightrope between the two extremes on the Rose school of thought as well. When I last visited the Hall of Fame, Rose may not have had a plaque on the wall, but he was well-represented in the museum part of the building. His jersey from his time with the Phillies was on display. There was even a video set-up showing the day he passed Ty Cobb's hit record. The Hall of Fame was not trying to erase Rose from history.
But the new allegations against Rose raises some doubt regarding the integrity of his playing career. Joe Jammer, a former groundskeeper for the Montreal Expos during the 1980s told the Montreal Gazette that Pet Rose had corked hit bats when he played for the Expos. In a telephone interview, Jammer told the Gazette:
Except, that's not really what a corked bat does. Researches at the University of Illinois showed that the elasticity of the bat and ball collision was negligible when the bat was corked. Put another way, sing a corked bat did not create the "trampoline effect" in any significant way.
Corked bats are also not effective in propelling the ball farther. Using a lighter bat does allow the hitter a quicker bat speed. But, bat speed alone does not push a ball farther. The energy transferred to the ball depends not only on bat speed, but also on the mass of the bat. By reducing the mass of the bat to increase the speed, there is a trade-off that doesn't result in more energy being transferred to the ball.
So why do hitter cork their bats? The quicker bat speed does allow the hitter to delay the decision of whether to swing at a pitch by a fraction of a second. This may permit a hitter to control better where the hit ball will go. You know the old saying. "Hit 'em where they ain't." If you can hit a ground ball between where the fielders are playing, you can get a base hit.
Rose was a singles hitter. His talent was getting on base and moving runners over. The science behind corking a bat falls right into his style of play.
Moreover, I had never believed that Rose threw games when he was gambling on them because he is a highly competitive person. He was the type of player who would do anything to get on base, or score a run, even if he had to . . . bend the rules. Many have criticized his tendency to barrel into the catcher in the hope of knocking the baseball loose so his run could count, even when this tactic was unnecessary, such as during the 1980 NLCS. Rose famously knocked over Bruce Bochy at the plate, even though Bochy never had control of the baseball. Rose had similarly been criticized for his collision with Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game.
I distinctly remember one at-bat from the 1980 World Series. Rose reached base after being hit by a pitch. But he appeared to lean his knee into the pitch. Did Rose take advantage of breaking ball that came a little too far inside? We may never know for sure, but it certainly is consistent with his style of play.
The same thing can be said about these allegations of what happened over thirty-five years ago. Jammer's statement is just hearsay, saying what Bryan Greenberg told him. Even if Greenberg were to come forward now to corroborate Jammer's story, it may not convince many people. But gaining a competitive advantage, no matter how small, that could be within Pete's character.
There's no reason to place an asterisk next to Pete's name in the record book yet. But given Rose's lack of moral character, I can see how someone could rush to believe the current accusations.
By: William J. Kovatch, Jr.
Check out our YouTube Channel at: YouTube.com/c/PhiladelphiaBaseballHistory
You can also find us on Twitter, @PhilBaseballHis, and Instagram.
Corcoran, Cliff, "Ichiro is al-time great with or without Pete Rose's MLB hit record," Sports Illustrated (June 15, 2016).
Emerging Technologyfrom the arXiv, "The Misleading Myth of the Corked Bat," MIT Technology Review (September 16, 2010).
MLB, "Pete Rose barrels over Ray Fosse," YouTube Video (June 12, 2011).
Montemuro, Meghan, "Phillies cancel Pete Rose's Wall of Fame induction," Delaware Online (August 2, 2017).
Moore, Jack, "Sorry, Pete Rose: Ichiro Suzuki Is Our New Hit King," GQ (June 16, 2016).
Nightengale, Bob, "As Ichiro closes in, Pete Rose chafes, 'They're trying to make me Hit Queen,'" USA Today (June 13, 2016).
Phillies Classics, "1980 World Series - Game 1 @mrodsports," YouTube Video (August 19, 2013).
Reuters, "Pete Rose used corked bats, former Expos groundskeeper alleges," Montreal Gazette (May 5, 2020).
Weinbaum, WIlliam, "Pete Rose's defamation suit against John Dowd dismissed," ESPN (December 15, 2017).
For example, in 2016, Ichiro Sukui, an incredible hitter in his own right, passed 4,257 hits in his entire professional career. Of course, this included not only Major League Baseball, but also Suzuki's playing time in Japan. Despite the differences in the quality of the leagues, some excitedly proclaimed Suzuki the new hit king. Their exuberance in having a person of greater moral character to push Pete Rose off of his throne could hardly be contained.
I grew up in the 1970s. I can remember going to Veterans Stadium as early as 1976, barely before I started kindergarten. My family was a baseball family, and I jokingly say I grew up in Veterans Stadium. Pete Rose was one of my favorite ball players. As much as I still love Mike Schmidt, Gary Maddox, Steve Carlton and Greg Luzinski, Pete Rose was that fabulous player who got that team over the hump. His scrappy style of play, and never give up attitude is what pushed the Phillies to win their first World Championship in their ninety-six year history.
For a long time, I was firmly in that first category. Yes, I was disappointed when it was revealed that Rose bet on baseball. But to me, he had served his time, quite literally in prison for tax evasion, no one had ever proven that he bet against his own team and threw games on purpose, and his hitting prowess still stood as a testament to the fact that he was a rare baseball talent. He deserved Hall of Fame enshrinement.
To that end, I was anxiously awaiting the day in 2017, when Peter Rose was finally going to be recognized officially by the Phillies by being placed on their Wall of Fame. The year before, I had worked on my kids, laying hints, to prompt them to work with their grandparents to get me a Pete Rose jersey for Father's Day. Even though I live in Northern Virginia now, I had my ticket ready. I planned on wearing that jersey for its Citizen Bank Park debut on the day Rose was to be honored.
And then the news broke. You see, Pete Rose had filed a lawsuit against John Dowd, who was the lawyer hired by MLB to investigate Rose's gambling. In 2015, during a radio interview, Dowd claimed that Pete Rose had committed statutory rape. Rose filed a defamation claim against Dowd. The suit progressed in the background for two years. Then, about two weeks before the scheduled ceremony at CBP, news broke that a woman testified through an affidavit that she had a sexual affair with Pete Rose in the 1970s which started when she was fourteen or fifteen years old. Rose's response? She was sixteen when he started the affair, which was the age of consent in Ohio at the time.
. . .
It took me a while to wrap my head around this. At the time, I desperately wanted the ceremony to go forward. Pete Rose was a hero of mine. Sure, this was a moral transgression, but it didn't diminish what he did at the plate. After all, Hall of Famer Cap Anson married a thirteen year old.
But eventually, it sunk in. Pete Rose was thirty-four years old, a married man and a father when he had sexual relations with a girl who had not finished high school. I couldn't get past that, and my attitude towards Rose changed. I no longer thought he deserved the honor of being inducted into the Hall of Fame during his lifetime. His play on the field still stood as a special accomplishment. Because the integrity of that had not been questioned, I believed that one day, perhaps Rose could be welcomed into Cooperstown, but not while he was alive to enjoy it.
The Hall of Fame apparently walks the tightrope between the two extremes on the Rose school of thought as well. When I last visited the Hall of Fame, Rose may not have had a plaque on the wall, but he was well-represented in the museum part of the building. His jersey from his time with the Phillies was on display. There was even a video set-up showing the day he passed Ty Cobb's hit record. The Hall of Fame was not trying to erase Rose from history.
But the new allegations against Rose raises some doubt regarding the integrity of his playing career. Joe Jammer, a former groundskeeper for the Montreal Expos during the 1980s told the Montreal Gazette that Pet Rose had corked hit bats when he played for the Expos. In a telephone interview, Jammer told the Gazette:
- Pete was too smart to deal with Expos equipment manager John Silverman. So Bryan Greenberg, who worked in the visitors’ clubhouse, did it. He took me into a room, a door to the left, and underneath tarps there was this machine. . . . The guy was saying Rose had been corking his bat for 20 years . . . . The guy said that nobody checks him because he’s a singles hitter.
Except, that's not really what a corked bat does. Researches at the University of Illinois showed that the elasticity of the bat and ball collision was negligible when the bat was corked. Put another way, sing a corked bat did not create the "trampoline effect" in any significant way.
Corked bats are also not effective in propelling the ball farther. Using a lighter bat does allow the hitter a quicker bat speed. But, bat speed alone does not push a ball farther. The energy transferred to the ball depends not only on bat speed, but also on the mass of the bat. By reducing the mass of the bat to increase the speed, there is a trade-off that doesn't result in more energy being transferred to the ball.
So why do hitter cork their bats? The quicker bat speed does allow the hitter to delay the decision of whether to swing at a pitch by a fraction of a second. This may permit a hitter to control better where the hit ball will go. You know the old saying. "Hit 'em where they ain't." If you can hit a ground ball between where the fielders are playing, you can get a base hit.
Rose was a singles hitter. His talent was getting on base and moving runners over. The science behind corking a bat falls right into his style of play.
Moreover, I had never believed that Rose threw games when he was gambling on them because he is a highly competitive person. He was the type of player who would do anything to get on base, or score a run, even if he had to . . . bend the rules. Many have criticized his tendency to barrel into the catcher in the hope of knocking the baseball loose so his run could count, even when this tactic was unnecessary, such as during the 1980 NLCS. Rose famously knocked over Bruce Bochy at the plate, even though Bochy never had control of the baseball. Rose had similarly been criticized for his collision with Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game.
I distinctly remember one at-bat from the 1980 World Series. Rose reached base after being hit by a pitch. But he appeared to lean his knee into the pitch. Did Rose take advantage of breaking ball that came a little too far inside? We may never know for sure, but it certainly is consistent with his style of play.
The same thing can be said about these allegations of what happened over thirty-five years ago. Jammer's statement is just hearsay, saying what Bryan Greenberg told him. Even if Greenberg were to come forward now to corroborate Jammer's story, it may not convince many people. But gaining a competitive advantage, no matter how small, that could be within Pete's character.
There's no reason to place an asterisk next to Pete's name in the record book yet. But given Rose's lack of moral character, I can see how someone could rush to believe the current accusations.
Check out our YouTube Channel at: YouTube.com/c/PhiladelphiaBaseballHistory
You can also find us on Twitter, @PhilBaseballHis, and Instagram.
References
Corcoran, Cliff, "Ichiro is al-time great with or without Pete Rose's MLB hit record," Sports Illustrated (June 15, 2016).
Emerging Technologyfrom the arXiv, "The Misleading Myth of the Corked Bat," MIT Technology Review (September 16, 2010).
MLB, "Pete Rose barrels over Ray Fosse," YouTube Video (June 12, 2011).
Montemuro, Meghan, "Phillies cancel Pete Rose's Wall of Fame induction," Delaware Online (August 2, 2017).
Moore, Jack, "Sorry, Pete Rose: Ichiro Suzuki Is Our New Hit King," GQ (June 16, 2016).
Nightengale, Bob, "As Ichiro closes in, Pete Rose chafes, 'They're trying to make me Hit Queen,'" USA Today (June 13, 2016).
Phillies Classics, "1980 World Series - Game 1 @mrodsports," YouTube Video (August 19, 2013).
Reuters, "Pete Rose used corked bats, former Expos groundskeeper alleges," Montreal Gazette (May 5, 2020).
Weinbaum, WIlliam, "Pete Rose's defamation suit against John Dowd dismissed," ESPN (December 15, 2017).
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