As Episode 1 of "Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose" (2024 release; 4 episodes of 56-58 min each) opens, it is "January 20, 2022, AFC Championship Game" and the Cincinnati Bengals come back from 18 point down and beat KC. Comments Rose: "Joe Burrow is like Pete Rose. He never gives up." Later on, it is "February 13, 2022, Super Bowl LVI". Comments Pete: "I love Cincinnati, but I bet on Los Angeles." We then go back in time to Pete's upbringing in Cincinnati... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.
Couple of comments: let me state upfront that I have lived in Cincinnati since 1987, and hence missed out on the Big Red Machine, but I did live through the entire betting scandal days, and beyond. We need to separate 2 things: (1) Is this a good documentary? To which I can state unequivocally "yes". The mini-series is a nice mix of Rose's baseball history and baseball's evolution over this years, as well of course a look at the fallout of baseball's continued ban of Rose. (2) Should Pete Rose remained banned, now 35 years later? The bottom line for me is that there are no winners, and only losers, in this decades long standoff. Rose of course brought this onto himself, first by betting on baseball, and then by lying again, and again, and again, about it for far too long. However, with each passing year, Major League Baseball looks from bad to worse, almost vindictively continuing to punish Pete Rose, one of baseball's greatest players ever, while we endure never-ending ads and commercials from FanDuel (the official GAMBLING partner of MLB), DraftKings, BetMGM, Hard Rock, and on and on. It is literally EVERYWHERE, certainly also here in Ohio, where sports gambling is legal and flourishing. And last but not least, we the fans are also the losers, depriving us of the opportunity to celebrate one of baseball's greatest players ever. Pete Rose is now an 83 year old man. He is the all-time MLB leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215) and outs (10,328), but still not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Wow. What is MLB afraid of? That Rose might place a bet on the Cincinnati Reds?
"Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose" started airing on HBO just recently, and it's also streaming on Max, where I caught this the other day. It is currently rated 100% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which is overly generous for sure. That said, it is without a good documentary mini-series. If you are a fan of baseball, or of Pete Rose, I'd readily suggest you check it out, and draw your own conclusion.
*UPDATE October, 2024* Barely 2 months later after the release of "Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose", MLB finally got what it wanted: Pete Rose passed away without making it into the Hall of Fame. Are you happy now, MLB? Looking at MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred and others...
