Rebuilding Rob

A few weeks back, I watched the HBO Max documentary Charlie Hu$tel and The Matter of Pete Rose. The irony of this, of course, is that Pete Rose would die last Saturday at the age of 83.

I wanted to do a review of the documentary sooner. but for some reason it hadn’t come up. Now with Rose’s death, it seems more timely than ever; not just to review the documentary to eulogize one of the most polarizing players in baseball history.

Much like the Netflix Mr. McMahon documentary was for wrestling fans, Charlie Hu$tle… didn’t really shed a lot of new light on the subject; at least not for baseball fans. There were no new bombshells. There was no new evidence or shocking confessions to come from this special. in fact, if anything, my big take away from the documentary was the fact that Pete Rose has not changed at all. He still the baseball Savant. He still, even decades after his retirement, demonstrates a level of grit and tenacity that few players have ever displayed in the history of the game. And most of all, he still doesn’t seem to grasp with the magnitude of his gambling, a major league baseball games.

I bet you 20 bucks I can get you gambling before the end of the day!

-Lloyd Christmas, Dumb & Dumber

I’m not one of these sanctimonious baseball purists, who will preach that gambling is the ultimate sin on our national pastime. In fact, I think that performance enhancing drugs did far more damage to the game, Pete; let alone the black scandal of the 1919 baseball World Series.

But the fact of the matter is that Pete Rose, as the manager the Cincinnati Reds, placed bets on his team. He has admitted this openly and freely ; I’ll be at after many decades. But one thing that I heard would bring up years ago in an appearance on the Rome show was this idea: Rose says that he only ever bet on the Reds to win. He claims that he never bet on the Reds losing. If we take him at his word for a moment – and that is a major stretch , what kind of message would it send to the gambling community and the other big bookies on the days when didn’t bet? It meant that he didn’t think the Reds were going to win that day. so even though he wasn’t placing any money on the Reds on those days, he was, in effect, betting on them losing. This is a quote I heard once from John Dowd, the writer of Major League Baseball official report on the Pete Rose gambling scandal. 

As a major league manager – the man who literally creates the lineup and the batting order for his team on any given day, this is a major conflict of interest. Rose’s status as an MLB manager could literally affect the outcome of any bet that he did, or did not place any particular day. He either doesn’t seem to understand that, or he doesn’t care to admit to it, even after all these years.

It is somewhat mind-boggling because the office of both MLB Comissioners Rob Manfred – and his predecessor, Bud Selig – both claimed that if Rose were to show some contrition, he might be able to begin the process of moving towards reinstatement in baseball.

Then there is another, far more heinous and unfortunately, far less sensational criminal act by Rose: his alleged affair with an underage girl. It was brought up during the documentary. Rose claims that she lied about her age. And then the final thing that he says in his own defense on the matter is “the statute of limitations on it has passed“. That is not a denial.

I’ll be honest: I don’t think MLB ever had any intention of reinstating Rose. The lifetime ban of Shoeless Joe Jackson already serious as a template for any future prospects of rose being reinstated in baseball his case is one that is under possibly even more dubious circumstances. Jackson died decades ago and there’s been no movement to allow for Jackson to be enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame. If I was a diehard fan of Pete Rose, I would not hold my breath on ever seeing a plaque dedicated to him in Cooperstown.

Charlie Hu$tle and The Matter of Pete Rose is currently streaming on Max.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

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• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
• The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision

The article “Rob Reviews and Eulogizes: Charlie Hu$tle and The Matter of Pete Rose” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob