Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991                   TAG: 9104180077
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by DUDLEY J. EMICK JR.
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HUSTLE: THE MYTH, LIFE AND LIES OF PETE ROSE.

Pete Rose may have been the best baseball player ever. He is certainly among the top 10. The other nine had character defects, to be sure, but Pete Rose is the only one who bet on baseball games, and what's worse, on games in which he participated.

Rose's dad was a good semi-pro athlete. Every town has at least one. He set out to make Pete a professional and he succeeded even to the extent of instructing his son that school work and achievement were secondary. Thus, Pete grew up thinking that if you crossed the Ohio River you fell off the world, and that Machiavelli played first base for the High Point/Thomasville "High-Toms."

Sokolove was an investigative reporter before he became a Cincinnati sports reporter and it shows in his writing. He marshals his facts in such a manner that even Pete's mom would admit that Pete bet on the game and she would change the subject if you told her he bet on games in which he could influence the result.

Still, I couldn't erase from my mind those warm nights in Cincinnati watching Pete intimidate umpires by daring them with stares to call a close pitch a strike. From a fan's perspective, if an opposing outfielder didn't move at his maximum effort, Pete Rose was going to punish his lackluster effort by stretching a single into a belly-flopping double.

But, Rose was attracted to "lounge lizards," with beauty parlor hair-dos and gold chains measured in feet not inches. They gambled, dealt in drugs and performed as "gofers" placing his bets. In the end, they sang like birds to the federal prosecutors and delivered up Rose for public scorn based on indisputable facts.

Mention is made of Rose's many romances and women in every city with a team in the National League. His oldest daughter can't stand him primarily because of her father's repeated ridicule of her weight problem. At times, the author is merciless in describing in detail Rose's character flaws.

But Rose engenders sympathy with me because of his working habits. He neither smokes nor drinks. He thought nothing of taking extra batting practice alone every day for years. He did this not because he was in a slump, but because he believes in the adage that practice makes perfect.

To my knowledge, no player of any era knew his opposing teams' pitchers better than Rose. To say his baseball education was encyclopedic is really to understate his baseball IQ.

Sokolove, however, leaves to the reader the ultimate baseball question. Should Pete Rose be elected to the Hall of Fame? My answer is yes, but the plaque should read: "Nobody played the game better and nobody ever cheated the game worse."

Dudley J. Emick Jr. describes himself as a Virginia politician.