Yesterday, the Cincinnati Reds announced they are going to honor Pete Rose this summer with induction in the Reds Hall of Fame, retirement of his number 14, and a statue. For some reason, MLB approved Rose’s presence at these events. Even more ponderous was the Reds wanting to do this for him. 

I understand he is the Hit King. In many ways he’s synonymous with Reds baseball. He had 3,358 hits with the Reds alone. However, he was also the Reds manager. As the Reds manager, he bet on the games. There’s no proof he bet against the Reds, but then again, it took over 25 years to definitively prove he bet on baseball while he was a player. I still find it naive to believe he never bet against the Reds or found a convenient time to not bet on them. 

Rose managed the Reds until mid-way through the 1989 season. Later that year, he was banished from baseball. That year the Reds finished in fifth places with a 79-87 record.  Rose was 59-66. Do you know what happened in 1990?  They won the World Series. I’m not saying it’s definitive, but it shouldn’t be ignored. 

What also shouldn’t be ignored was between 1985 – 1988, the years he was a full time manager, his teams always finished in second and never won 90 games. While they were in second place, they never came close to winning the division. I know Lou Piniella is a good manager, but was he really good enough to be the missing piece?  Probably not. 

Let’s examine the 1987 season because that was the year the Reds got closest to winning the division under Rose’s tuteledge.  That team jumped out of the gate going 15-7 in April. The next three months they played around .500 ball before collapsing in August with a 9-20 record. The Reds entered that fateful month of August with a two game lead in the division. After August was over, they were in third place, six games back, and three games under .500. 

Keep in mind that this is dispositive of nothing. In fact, in some ways that was the August script between the 2015 Mets and Nationals. However, it still makes you question if more was at play here than just one really bad month. For example, the Recs went 1-5 against the Giants in August. Absent those August games, they were 6-6 against the division winning Giants. 

Does it matter to you that John Franco led the league in games finished in 1987 with 60?  How about the fact he repeated the feat in 1988 finishing 61 games?  How about the fact that from 1985 – 1988, Franco appeared in 67, 74, 68, and 70 games?  Does it matter that no other manager used him in as many appearances or to finish as many games?  

How do we judge him playing a young and healthy Eric Davis only 129 games despite him being the team’s best player? How many teams have a 34 year old catcher and 36 year old RF lead the team in games played? Why were the Reds the only team in baseball with a four men rotation that year?

I could go on and on. However, hopefully, you get my point. Seemingly, Rose made a lot of strange choices. We don’t know if these decisions came about organically, or if these decisions made based upon other factors. The only thing we know for sure is Pete Rose was betting on baseball back then. We also know that once Rose was gone, the Reds won the World Series. 

After all that, he’s getting honored by the Reds. He’s getting a statue. Other than his son, he’s the last Reds player to ever wear the number 14. It took 25+ years to discover he bet on baseball. I’m hoping it’s not another 25 years before we find out he bet against the he Reds. 

At that point, what do you do with the number 14 and the statue? Will it be too late to take it down?  All I do know is the Reds are sticking their necks out there for a guy who broke the gambling rule. They’re honoring a guy who might’ve bet against them. Wait another 25 years, and we’ll find that out.  

In the meantime, the Redx are honoring a guy who did his best to ensure his banishment from baseball.