(AP)
Cincinnati Reds infielder Pete Rose goes headfirst into third base against the New York Yankees in the 1976 World Series. “Rose was particularly loved because of the love he showed for the fans and the game. And because he hustled.” But, he also was banned from baseball after being accused of — and then admitting to — betting on games.

Aaron Keith Harris
2007-12-21 08:00:00.0
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To love something, or someone, is to risk pain. When applied to adult relationships, that pain can be from rejection, betrayal or, perhaps worst of all, indifference.

There’s also the pain of disappointment. It can hurt an adult, and it can devastate a child.

I was born in southwest Ohio in 1975, the same year the Cincinnati Reds won the World Series. They won it again the next year and came to be regarded, especially the ’75 team, as the greatest baseball team since Babe Ruth’s Yankees.

Members of the Big Red Machine were demigods of my childhood. Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Davey Concepcion and manager Sparky Anderson were invoked by coaches, parents, teachers and preachers to illustrate lessons of dedication, heart and excellence.

Rose was particularly loved because of the love he showed for the fans and the game. And because he hustled.

He had far less talent than a natural like Bench, who played catcher with the grace of a dancer and clubbed homers with the flick of a wrist.

But Pete hustled his way to victory and to greatness, and so could every kid who hustled like Pete.

So when Rose was accused of betting on baseball, many Reds fans, myself included, wanted to believe his denials long past the point of credulity.

And many younger fans, my adolescent self included, had admiration collapse into profound disappointment for the first time.

And though Rose was most certainly to blame for the fiasco, Major League Baseball did not handle the matter well.

And Major League Baseball has failed miserably and often on the steroid mess. No one spoke up in 1998, when the record-setting home run performances of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa erased all doubt the steroid era had arrived. It was fun to watch them hit, and team owners and dutiful Commissioner Bud Selig were delighted at the bigger crowds and larger revenues generated by more scoring.

That neglect continued with the institution of a toothless testing policy in 2002, and one only slightly tougher in 2005. In the meantime, the home run derby continued, and many older players at every position, including pitchers, were excelling well past age 40 at an unnatural rate.

When a very disagreeable figure like Barry Bonds suddenly transformed from being a great hitter to perhaps the most productive in history in his late 30s, many fans started to wake up. And when he became linked to the federal probe into steroid-supplier BALCO, not even Selig could refrain from doing something.

Last week’s Mitchell report is a step in the right direction. MLB and the player’s union should heed the recommendations of professional, independent testing for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. And there should be harsh penalties for those players who are caught, and those players should be named.

However, the 80 or so players named in the Mitchell Report did not flunk any drug test. They are implicated mostly by the word of personal trainers and others who were caught with illegal substances and are cooperating with law enforcement.

I’m inclined to believe most of the players on the list did use steroids or HGH, and I was surprised that several names weren’t on the list. But none of the 80 players deserve to be on a list that will accomplish nothing.

Looking back at who used what and what records are legitimate won’t make baseball better. Only a return to reliance on the virtues of integrity and hustle can begin to restore some trust and joy to the greatest of all pastimes.

Aaron Keith Harris writes about politics, the media, pop culture and music and is a regular contributor to National Review Online and Bluegrass Unlimited. He can be reached at aaronkeithharris@gmail.com.