Pete Rose may be the hit king, but he was no hit with some kids and parents at the U.S. Army Reds Legends Baseball Camp last week.
“It was a complete embarrassment,” said Staff Sgt. Steven Tischer, commander of the Colerain-Highland Ridge U.S. Army Recruiting Station that sponsored the baseball camp for 7- to 14-year-olds. “You don’t swear in front of kids, that’s just common sense. He dropped the F-bomb and the S-bomb. He told them winning is everything and if you get second place you’re just losers.”
I asked Tischer about Rose’s July 26 visit after getting an e-mail from Renee Collins of Mason, who went to the camp with her son and some of his teammates.
“It was such a great week,” she said. “My son goes to camps a lot and this was by far the best. It was so wonderful except for that one hour.”
She said Rose’s talk was “weird” – something that “might have been appropriate for a Kiwanis Club, but not for kids.”
“He asked the kids to just ‘forgive his French,’ but there was hardly a word they didn’t hear from the bad language dictionary,” she said. “When he arrived with his entourage, it was like Elvis had just entered the building.”
Among the remarks Collins heard from Rose:
“His comment that he was (bleeped) off that Marge didn’t leave him any money in her will and that she left it all to the zoo. His comment about how Marge loved to smoke and she would have smoked in her sleep if someone was there to hold her cigarette all night. His comment that he saw Joe DiMaggio in the shower and he saw more of him than Marilyn Monroe ever did. His comment on a good friend of his that was a gambler – and how I could go on.”
The Army recruiters used baseball to teach great life lessons, Collins said. Players such as Jim O’Toole and Bronson Arroyo were wonderful and each used their 20 minutes to give the kids positive advice, such as the value of playing catch in the backyard with their dads, she said. Rose rambled for an hour until some parents groaned and the kids began to pull grass and chatter.
“It was like an uncle at Thanksgiving you want to stick in a back corner,” Collins said. “The kids were very uncomfortable. They said the only thing they got out of it was that Pete Rose has a potty mouth.”
Tischer said, “The whole crowd was aghast, but kind of laughed, like ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe he just said that.’”
Collins and Tischer were both surprised that news stories made Rose look like the star of the camp.
TV reports showed him speaking, but there was no audio of his comments, Collins said. She sent me a clip from a Fairfield paper: “Pete Rose cracks up campers, parents.”
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Just going to say this about the 2 kids reference. Years ago, a quote by Pete was taken out of context. His only child is Astile. Whenever he refers to “the kids” he refers to Astile and his sister, Molly (Lisa's daughter with Liam Gallagher). Both Astile and Molly used to visit Pete together and, as a result, a journalist thought they'd have a field day with the snippets they took from him.
Never noticed as a kid but pete look blazed as fuck.
I'd rather have a gambler, and I am referencing Pete Rose. If you gamble, it doesn't change your skill. Pete Rose is the all-time hits leader. It's a travesty he's not in the Hall of Fame as a PLAYER because of something he did as a MANAGER. I say induct him as a player if anything, you don't have to induct him as a manger.
A cheater is most likely someone like Barry Bonds who improves their statistics. Perfect example, how many home runs of Barry Bonds career were hit while he was sober?
Verdict: A gambler. Doesn't affect skill. Cheating does.
[...] Our community service club, the Kiwanis Club of Tempe, pulled off its 59th annual 4th of July Fireworks Show Sunday night at Tempe Town Lake. For about the fifth year in a row, I was the Kiwanis’ captain for the main gate to Tempe Beach Park, … the past president of Kiwanis Club of Tempe and the chairman of this year’s show again; to Lance Gray and his team working with the hundreds of volunteers; and to Tempe City Councilman and Kiwanis Club President Corey Woods . …Click Here [...]
I was going to the dark side but my mom told me i had to clean my room first =(
I’ll try…sigh…:-)
I want Pete Rose’s expletive-laden speech.
Hey, Tony, good for you, standing up to Junior. I hope things are doing great with you now. Very cool blog.
Hey Tony, is that you? Rose is such a class act, isn’t he? I can’t wait for Damian to write and post his and Barry’s Hall of Fame Induction speech.
Junior, are you serious?
Junior,
Your name is the main reason you never made into the big leagues. You can thank your father for that.
I reject your father’s world view, and the lessons he taught you.
ONLY ONE WORLD COMES TO MIND WHEN IT COMES TO PETE ROSE- DESPICABLE.
Hey Tony,
My dad was the greatest. Why don’t you shut up and stop talking about things you don’t know about.
My dad cursed in front of me. So what? My dad was in a drunken stupor on the couch the few times he was home. So what? My dad beat my mom. So what? My dad brought prostitutes home, and gambled. So what? My dad cheated on his taxes. So what?
He was and is the best. He knows what this world is about- it’s a harsh, dog-eat-dog world. You have to be the king shark to survive.
I’m hitting pretty well with the Long Island Ducks, and one day I’m gonna break into the majors. My dad said as long as I keep at it, and work hard, I’ll get noticed, just like he did.
I’D eat both of ‘em.
Given his own definition that winning is everything, I would say that Pete must consider HIMSELF a loser, right?
Wrong — this guy was talking off-the -cuff, not thinking … he probably forgot what he said a second after saying it … he didn’t have a writer or editor to massage his words or make him sound more mainstream … he wasn’t doing a radio show where he KNEW he couldn’t curse … this was Pete Rose, raw and unedited, talking to a bunch of KIDS.
What a fool he is, that he thinks talking to kids like that is okay.
Pete does not deserve the loyalty of his son, Pete Rose Jr. To think he probably showed the same disregard when his kids were growing up.
Someone should tell Pete that just b/c he was raised that way doesn’t mean all children should be exposed to that kind of language. Not that it matters — the advice wouldn’t stick. A man like Pete believes the world is rough … that only the rugged survive. I imagine he genuinely believed he was giving the kids the straight scoop. “They want advice? I’ll give them advice!”
What an idiot.
I pray he turns into a zombie, like Steinbrenner.