ESPN’s ‘Hustle’ sad tale of Rose’s career Film shows baseball star’s fall from grace

In my lifetime, I’ve seen more Cincinnati Reds games in person than I have Boston Red Sox games.

The reason for that is simple. For three years, I lived about 35 miles from Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, and I often took advantage of my proximity to National League baseball. I was teaching and coaching in rural Indiana, and one of our assistant coaches was a big Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Needless to say, we took in a lot of Dodgers-Reds games, a heated rivalry in those days.

Witnessing the talent of manager Sparky Anderson’s “Big Red Machine” was a joy to behold. Names such as Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Johnny Bench jumped off the scorecard like the future Hall of Famers they would become, with one possible exception, of course: Peter Edward Rose. Next to Joe Nuxhall, a longtime Reds pitcher-turned-broadcaster, Rose was the most popular figure in Cincinnati sports history.

ESPN’s recent foray into made-for-TV movies is “Hustle,” the story of Pete Rose’s fall from grace in baseball, following his sorted tale of gambling and deceit, which ultimately led to a lifetime ban from the game and public humiliation.

The movie, starring actor Tom Sizemore as Rose, begins with the night Rose broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hit mark of 4,191. September 11, 1985, should have been the date engraved on a bronze plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y., at the Baseball Hall of Fame. For player-manager Rose, it was the start of a downward spiral that eventually saw the son of Harry and LaVerne Rose raked over the coals in a self-inflicted saga of embarrassment seldom seen in sports.

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, “Hustle” is a decent attempt to capture the Pete Rose story. Sizemore, perhaps best known for his role opposite Tom Hanks in “Saving Private Ryan,” does a credible job of capturing the Rose persona of “Charlie Hustle.” Problem is, the hustling behind the scenes with bookmakers and an assorted bevy of crooks is what could ultimately be Rose’s epitaph.

With the exception of a few lousy wigs, Sizemore becomes Rose as the film progresses. Some scenes done in dark surroundings are eery, for Sizemore’s body language is all Pete’s, and you come away from the flick feeling violated somewhat. For if you followed baseball in the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, you remember a team and especially its star player as something more than a haven for an obsessed gambler.

Sizemore performs wonders capturing the spirit of compulsion. What’s amazing about “Hustle” is how desperate Rose becomes as the film progresses. For me, Sizemore is Rose by the film’s end, and the very idea of someone of such public stature taking the risk to soil an absolutely fabulous baseball career is really the unbelievable nature of the disease which gambling is.

The sadness of the whole tale, of course, is that in terms of actual baseball skills, Rose clearly belongs in the Hall of Fame. Even those who didn’t warm to Rose’s hustling, all-out playing style have to admit that he was a rare talent.

Base on balls? Off he went, sprinting to first base. Ground ball to the infield? The defense would have to hustle or Pete would beat it out. Home run out of the park? No standing at home plate and admiring the thing. Heck, this guy would often be at second base by the time the ball cleared the fence.

My last year of teaching and coaching in Boston, Ind., was 1975. That year, the Red Sox had a phenomenal season and made it all the way to the Fall Classic. Their opponent? The aforementioned Reds.

One day in class, one of my basketball players raised his hand and asked me if I’d like box seats for Game 4 of the World Series between the Reds and the Red Sox. Both he and his mother knew my fervor for any Boston sports team. The kid’s father, a dentist, had season tickets, and therefore, first crack at postseason ducats.

I was touched by the gesture, and when school let out for the day, I called my father and invited him and my mother to fly to Ohio and see the game with me.

What a time we had, and what a game we saw. Luis Tiant battled the Reds tooth and nail in the rain and eventually came away with the win.

Riverfront Stadium is no longer standing, and Pete Rose is out of baseball. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is rumored to be pondering some type of pardon for Pete Rose in light of a final admission of guilt by the slugger.

“Hustle” does a nice job capturing the sadness of the tale, and it ends with the real Pete Rose admitting not only his guilt in betting on baseball, but also the ultimate sin of betting on the Reds while he was managing them.

The tale continues until Selig makes up his mind regarding his view of the proceedings and how it will all end.

As Rose’s former manager Anderson said, “It’s hard to have a real Hall of Fame until baseball’s best hitter is in it.”

Rose’s record of 4,256 hits belongs in the Hall. A mere mention of that accomplishment seems shallow.

But does Pete Rose belong there, too?

Commissioner Selig could have the final say in that matter.

NEWS columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net