Why I hate Pete Rose

The reason I hate Pete Rose came flying back to me again today like a brick from the grandstands. All this flap about Eliot Spitzer brought Pistol Pete to my mind. Two hypocrites, that's what they are. Eliot talked law & order, but didn't allow his convictions to get in the way of his behavior. Why? He's a narcisist, of course, just like Pete the Prick. When Rose bowled over Ron Hasse in a meaningless All Star game and essentially ended Hasse's productive years, he defended himself by saying, "Hey, that's the way the game is played!" The rulebook allowed it, so ol' Pete was gonna knock over anyone in his way.

But when he got caught cheating--placing illegal bets on games his team was involved in--Pete thought he ought to get a pass. No one was hurt, I didn't bet against my own team, etc etc. But wait--someone was hurt in the All Star game, wasn't he? And that was OK. So I guess whether or not someone was hurt wasn't really a factor.

Pete's an asshole. Put his records in the Hall but not his ugly lying cheating mug.

And speaking of his records--once we all get around to taking Bill James' Runs Created formula seriously, we're gonna see Pete in a different light. I just checked his stats against a good ol' Ohio U. grad, Mike Schmitt, one of the greatest players ever. Way underrated, too. Unlike Pete, who's way overrated. Pete may have hit for a higher average than Mike. But when it came to producing runs, Schmitt is way ahead of that Hustlin Hunk of Dung. You could look it up. baseball-reference.com. It's all there.

By the way, a tip o the hat goes out to Terry Hartman this week. The old man and his new band, the Dead Beat Poets, are playing South By Southwest. That's in Austin. It's a big deal. Knock em dead, Ter.