Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Finnerty
It was part of common baseball conversation as of the mid-70s. It became a hot topic when Rose was mysteriously allowed to sign elsewhere, and Sparky Anderson was mysteriously let go. That was a full seven years before he was done playing.
It's no crime to choose to ignore it, I just covered that rather extensively. Pete Rose was one of the iconic players of any generation. It's disappointing when any icon's a scumbag. Ask any former fan of Barry Bonds.
Rose's loose behavior was common knowledge. I would expect you to differ.
You know of sportswriters who didn't know ...  That's a good one. |
{sigh}
Yes, I do. And it would be easy to quote them. It would be easy to cite his Sportsman of the Year and Man of the Year awards voted by sportswriters in the 70's. It would easy to quote from articles from the 70's. And it would easy to quote honest fans from the 70's.
It would be easy to debunk, to thinking people, you allegation of what was "common knowledge." It would be easy to quote fellow players from the 70's Reds who referred to him, pre manager days, as one of the greatest men then knew.
None of this says he was what people thought. We all know now that he wasn't. But, it would be easy to show that more didn't know that then, than did.
It would all be easy. But senseless. You still have this need to have the last word, to prove to the world that you are right and everyone else is wrong. So have it.
Or maybe this is just one of those times where, as you have said, we're "not even in the same league" as you. Maybe this is one of the many times you were better informed than the rest of the world. You knew more and better than most everyone else. Maybe that's so commonplace, you just assumed everyone knew what you knew.
I don't know.
I do know you can't tell people what they knew and what they didn't. Let me correct that, I guess you can tell them that, it just can't be done with certainty.
So, go ahead now. We're all waiting breathlessly for your final word and confirmation of how right you are and how wrong everyone else is.