As is natural, as a young boy growing up in Cincinnati in the 60’s and 70’s my favorite baseball team was (and is) the Cincinnati Reds and my favorite baseball player was (and is) Peter Edward Rose. All that said, as I grew older (and disputably wiser) he is not my favorite human being. There were many great players on the Big Red Machine but none matched the achievements, dynamism and perseverance of Pete Rose. I reveled in every at bat and every accomplishment. I loved that he ran hard on even the most routine out at first base. In his career he is the only player in MLB history to play more than 500 games at 5 different positions – 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, RF. He did not have the athletic grace of a Jeter or the power of a Judge, but he could hit reliably, like no other. By sheer strength of spirit he seemed to will himself to play great baseball.

I loved (and still love today) baseball more than any other sport. As a bit of a schlub myself I believed I could will myself to play great baseball just like my hero. I couldn’t. My Little League career, such as it was, was miserable and without any notable success. But I still loved to watch the game and really loved to watch Pete Rose play.

After the glory years of the Big Red Machine, I was certain Pete would bring his magic back to the game as a player/manager in the late 80’s. It was not to be. His long sorted past of feeling his success placed him above the rules of common decency finally caught up with him and he was suspended from the game. I was shattered and outraged because Pete insisted he had been wronged and as my hero I believed him. For a while. The more I read, the more I doubted. The more that was revealed, from his finally admitted gambling issues to dallying with an underaged girl he took across state lines when he was married and in his 30’s to his income tax evasion. The more tarnished and toxic he became in my eyes. While I love baseball and his feats, I also prize civil society and decorum.

I am not a perfect man, and they are hard to find in general, but most of us try to adhere to decency the best we can. Pete Rose lost that compass a very long time ago. I still feel he is the best baseball player I have ever seen and likely will ever see in my lifetime. His career formed my view of the game and the power of perseverance. But his life is also a hard lesson and I am sorry he is gone. But I will always remember Pete in just one way. In the way he played the game I love.