Quote:
Originally Posted by Stanley Kuppchaser
As a Mets fan, starting in 1962, I say, "Who needs that over rated bum?"
The reason he played 500 games at five positions, is that he was a crappy fielder. He was a hot dog, who didn't put in the work on his defense. He ran over a defenseless Ray Fosse in an exhibition game, tried to injure Bud Harrelson in the '73 playoffs, sparking their famous fight, etc., etc., etc.
Guess you can tell where I fall on the question of if you should work on the Rose card.
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They Ray Fosse thing was one of things I look at as a measure of my own maturity. My 11-year old self thought it was really cool. As I grew older and started realizing that players are real people, I couldn't help think that he destroyed a man's career over an exhibition game.
When I was listening to 120+ Reds games a year (one of the benefits of working nights) while he was player/manager I would notice him sitting down a better hitter for a game if Pete thought he could snag one or two more hits off a particular pitcher. He was clearing putting his chase over the good of the team.
When the reports of his gambling surfaced, it was hard not to look back at some of his in-game decisions and wonder if any of the odd ones were made because he had money on todays game. (This is part of why I recognize gambling as far more dangerous to the league as a whole than PEDS or doctored baseballs. As soon as a fan starts to wonder if the winner of todays game was decided away from the field instead of on it, a sport has devolved into professional wrestling.)