Pete Rose vs. Bart Giamatti
Bart Giamatti died 8 days after banning Pete Rose from baseball - heavy smoker - Age 51.
Pete Rose died over 35 years after being banned from baseball - heavy gambler - Age 83.
Have you (or anyone else who reads this) ever read The Dowd Report, the document that details John Dowd's investigation into whether or not Pete bet on baseball? I've read it twice...back in 1989, the magazine "Sports Illustrated" published some excerpts from it and then I read it again in the year 2000 (One of my former co-workers was a big baseball fan and he persuaded me to read the report again... I'm glad I did). The report is online, but it's in a PDF file, so I can't post a link to it.
It's an interesting read in spots. You learn about guys like Ron Peters, Tommy Giarosa, et.al. I've always wondered what the players thought when they saw those two guys going in and coming out of Pete's office...they had to know that something was going on with Pete. To this day, I just can't understand what Pete was thinking when he chose to bet on MLB. He knew the rules and consequences...all the times he was asked about it over the years and I don't ever recall him giving a straight answer about it.
By the way, I didn't realize for a long time that the actor Paul Giamatti is the son of Bart Giamatti. I think Paul Giamatti is a great actor...but I never made the connection with his dad.
I don't want to see Pete in the Hall Of Fame at this point. He's gone now and I think it about killed him that he never got in. No sense putting him in now.
I haven't read the Dowd report in it's entirely, but I've read excerpts and it's sobering. Pete was anything but classy. He was an alpha male dumb jock who thought the rules didn't apply to him. I think he bet on baseball because he needed the money. Not only did he need the money he probably got a huge adrenaline rush of breaking baseball's ultimate rule.
In the end, Pete was just trash. He lived near the strip in Vegas. I lived in Vegas for 8 years I saw him once in a Casino store signing autographs. I wouldn't go near him..it was sad and pathetic. Pete loved to talk about himself and that's what signing autographs gave him the chance to talk about himself over and over.
But that's what arrogant dumb jocks do. They lie, cheat, steal and only tell the truth when they need the money.
Yes, he really made some poor choices in his life. I really liked his first wife Karolyn and felt that Pete really screwed up with the way their marriage ended. One of my former college teammates from Cincinnati played American Legion ball with Pete Rose Jr. He said Pete Rose Jr. was a great guy and that it was due to the way Karolyn raised him. He was a fine baseball player also... just not good enough to play at the MLB level.
Interesting that you lived in Vegas and saw Pete there. I remember seeing a picture of Pete in Vegas some years back for an autograph signing...and there was no one there. He looked sad and old...and, yes, pathetic, as you said.
I really loved Pete Rose, the baseball player. Pete Rose, the human...he was very flawed. His personal life ended up being a real mess. I have such mixed emotions about him and his death has brought a lot of those emotions to the forefront again.
Pete is what is called "the tragedy of a man-child". He bulldozed his way through life never truly caring about anybody but himself.
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