My father was a big Pete Rose fan. He admired the kid who came from nothing and with a lot of hard work and heart became Charlie Hustle, the guy who always came to play.Because I admired my father, I was also partial to Rose. When he was popped for betting on baseball, I gave him a pass. I thought, considering the character of some of our most legendary players, a gambling addiction shouldn't keep this guy out of the Hall of Fame.
Then I moved to Cincinnati. I heard terrible things about Rose but, this being his home town, the stories were always told with a grudging affection and a shrug of whatta ya goin' to do? It's just Pete.
I began to think that maybe my father's admiration might have been misplaced, like when he voted for Richard Nixon. Three times.
I heard about Pete signing baseballs with the inscription, "I'm sorry I bet on baseball" and then selling those balls for $1000 each. I'm all for people making a buck, but that stinks like locker room socks.
But Rose is not one to let records go unchallenged, even if it's just a record of sleazy behavior. In a lapse of judgment that would shame even the Bush administration, the U.S. Army Reds Legends Baseball Camp in Cincinnati invited Rose to speak to boys and girls ages 7-14.
You know this can't end well.
It's unknown how much they paid Rose, but as one writer said, "Rose doesn't do anything for free. If his own son needed a ride to the emergency room, Rose would charge him mileage."
Pete faced his fans, the kids, parents and grandparents eager to hear this legend of Cincinnati baseball speak, to inspire, to share his message of bringing everything you've got to the great game. Instead they heard a lot of s-bombs and f-bombs, name-dropping, and stories of seeing men in the shower.
He said he saw Joe DiMaggio naked and told the kids, their jaws no doubt gaping in horror, that he "... saw more than Marilyn Monroe ever did."
Nice.
I used to think achievement was enough. I used to think that artists like Picasso earned the right to be jerks in their personal lives. But I've changed my mind.
It doesn't take much effort to be a decent human being. Several writers I greatly admire, like Lee Child, Ken Bruen and Laura Lippman among others, have shown that you can achieve great things in a tough business and still be a generous and caring person.
It's something Charlie Hustle should have learned long ago, back when my dad looked up to him as an example of how to play the game.
But I'm curious what you think, as always. Do you give great men and women a break on bad behavior? Does the fact that Frank Lloyd Wright was a brilliant artist forgive his being a flaming ass? Can you overlook Jerry Lee Lewis' marriage to his 13-year-old cousin because he also gave the world Great Balls of Fire?
Tell me what you think of great art, great heart and decency.
Talk to me.
5 comments:
Depends.
I always wondered if fans would have been more forgiving if Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa broke Aaron's record instead of Barry Bonds. Bonds is not only juicing himself, but the only people who love him are in the Bay Area, and the only people in the Bay Area who seem to hate him are his teammates.
When Pete Rose admitted he bet on the Reds, that was pretty much the end of Pete in Cincinnati. Oh, people still remember The Big Red Machine and Ty Cobb's record (no additives or preservatives in that one. Pete probably even put money on it), but his name is not spoken with the reverence I heard when I first moved here.
Now people talk about Barry Larkin, who played his entire career here, or Ken Griffey, Jr, (now that he's healthy) or Tom "Mr. Perfect" Browning, who's only crime seems to be getting pulled over smoking a joint. (If you stood in Pete Rose's shadow, you'd need a little whacky tobackey to cope, too.)
Can you be a jerk and still be worthy of admiration? I think so. No one questions Johnny Bench's character or achievements. The guy moved to third to bolster his team. But I used to work at a pizza place he'd order from. I've never met someone so abusive to the phone help. Good tipper, but I was sorely tempted to throw it back in his face. So does that tarnish him?
No, it just tells me to leave him the hell alone. Some people manage to keep their dark sides to themselves, where it doesn't effect everyone. Meet Johnny Bench on Fountain Square, and he might shake your hand, maybe even sign an autograph. Go to his house and...
Don't go to his house.
Thankfully, not all pro athletes are like that. And thankfully, most aren't like Pete Rose. Hell, the six or seven Bengals who never went to jail (much) are pretty decent guys.
Yep. Totally. Doesn't change what they achieved, but I don't condone someone's behaviour by liking their work, either.
Take writers - I still like the work of Bukowski, John Fante, Jim Thompson, George V. Higgins even though they were all colossal arseholes. Just because Bill Hicks or Richard Pryor or Lenny Bruce had major personality problems doesn't mean they're not the greatest stand-ups who ever lived.
Because how often are most of us going to meet these great people? I go into these things expecting a grating prick to come back at me, which makes it all the more pleasurable when I get to meet someone like Bruen, Lippman or yourself (I only miss Mr Child out because I've never met him - I'm sure he's lovely). But would I stop reading you all if I found out you were terrible people?
Course not. It's irrational. It would be me reacting to the cult of personality rather than the quality of the work.
Sometimes the arseholes in the world get the breaks. That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise.
Oh, and as a PS - I don't like baseball, never got into it, but I relish the idea of that many people being shocked by a guy who's infamous for being a lout. Hell, if he hadn't told cock stories, I'd be asking for my money back.
I have more respect for people who are assholes from birth than I do people who became assholes once they became famous and could get away with it.
Off-topic - my favorite Tom Browning moment: The Reds were playing the Cubs at Wrigley on a day when Browning was not scheduled to pitch. One of the TV cameras zoomed in on a building overlooking the stadium, and there was Browning, in full uniform, sitting on the parapet drinking a beer. He even waved!
I don't condone someone's behaviour by liking their work, either.
What Ray said. Some great art has been produced by people I wouldn't invite to the house. Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock were fucking trainwrecks, but I don't think it makes their art any less seminal.
As for Pete Rose: he's being kept out of the Hall by people who claim to believe that "great athlete" should also mean "great role model." Under this logic, they should drop the drunken whoremonger Babe Ruth and the violent racist Ty Cobb.
I guess what enters the discussion here, even more than the behavior of rock stars or policians, is that professional sports figures are so closely watched by children. I can still remember the horror of my small son when he found out about Pete Rose. Suddenly a hero was nothing more than a thug. Maybe it shouldn't be part of it, but it is.
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