683 - Pete Rose - part two

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This is an American history podcaster.

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Hey, all right.

What are we looking at tonight, Bean?

Hold on a second, Shaft.

Before that, we should talk about the car giveaway over the weekend.

I was going to bring that up, but obviously we've jumped into Toyota-thon.

Boy, have we.

Boy, howdy, have we.

You know, I don't usually listen to

music podcasts.

But my friend just started one called The Record Junkies, and he sent it to me.

It was first episode.

Who?

Brennan Small.

I I know him.

Oh, you know him.

And he, and he did one, he it was about Yacht Rock, and I just sat there and listened to the whole goddamn thing.

Huh.

Whole fucking thing.

Huh.

But yeah.

Well, it's good.

It's like I, there's certain subjects you can hook me in with.

You want to talk about Yacht Rock?

I'm there.

I want to make sure that we follow each other because then he's my friend, too.

So,

spring 1977, spring training.

77?

1977.

So So Pete Rose has just won.

They've just won their first World Series against the Boston Red Sox.

It's big.

It's big.

Pete

got

the monkey off his back, right?

Now he's good in the playoffs.

He wins in the monkey.

By the way, if I had a monkey on my back, I would definitely nurse it back to health and keep it.

What if it was chewing through?

Chewing through the back.

Yeah.

I'd find a way to make it realize that I was wrong.

And then I'd put a little diaper on it and I'd put him into little outfits, like little onesies.

Start an Instagram with him, Garf Man and the Monkey Boy.

And we would just do a thing where we would lady in the tramp spaghetti.

Yeah, he killed you a long time ago.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

See, you're making stuff up.

I'm not making stuff up.

You are one of them.

He's a tiny little spider monkey.

He's a capuchin.

100% gonna die from monkey.

Oh, uh, name a worse, name a, name a worse death.

Die from rhino?

Super weird to be ready to say it.

Luke and I went and had a couple beers last night, and they started doing bar trivia.

And bar trivia to me is fleet.

Yeah,

because you have English nightmare feels.

I just want to go.

Because you've been in pubs and you know that.

I just, any, anywhere where all of a sudden the vibe is taken over by a game that most people don't want to play,

Luke, he goes, oh, yes.

And I go,

I go, what?

He goes, we've got to stay.

And I go, what the fuck?

I go, no,

this is like closing time.

Yeah.

We leave.

And no, they're doing bar chase.

So he gets excited.

He gets us a little sheet.

And he starts, you know, he's a smart guy, despite the fact that he's probably eating poop on the podcast.

And he's

going through, and then one of the rounds is

pictures of like animals, like their feet, and you're supposed to pick those, so whatever.

We do that round, and then the last round is uh idioms, and uh, yeah, we got a number of them wrong, and Luke was furious.

Like, it was like the first time I was like, oh, he is competitive.

He was furious, and he wanted to go to start talking to the woman running the trivia, telling her why his answers were right.

Oh, Luke, Luke, it's amazing.

So, he's he's got a little Pete Rose in him.

Yeah, he's got a little rose in him.

So 1977 spring training.

It's in Tampa, Florida, where the Reds play their spring training.

Spring training is where the baseball teams get ready for the season.

Yeah, they put the springs on their shoes.

That's where Pete met Terry Rubio.

She's staying in the same hotel as Pete.

His wife and his kids.

Yeah, okay.

And uh, she's hot, sure.

Uh, quote: nine and a half out of ten.

Yeah, that's uh, I don't know, yeah, don't know.

It's such a weird,

he's quoted as saying that, or one of the teammates did, sure, uh, probably him, sure, but uh, yeah, why don't you just go 10?

Yeah, I think, uh, I think the compliment: look, if you're gonna just go purely physical, give her the 10.

Hey, look, you know what she is, she's a 9.89 out of 10.

She's a half shy of totally high,

She's so close.

God, baby, you are right there.

You're not going to be able to do that.

You know what you need?

Your big poofy hair.

Yeah, by the way.

And I mean,

like,

coming from guys who look like Neanderthal.

I know, that's the thing.

You're close to perfect.

Hey, look at me.

I'm like a thumb.

Yeah.

So Terry thought it's all okay.

It's the 70s.

And the Roses had an agreement, right?

Why else would he be doing it?

Sherilyn got to be Mrs.

Rose while Pete gets to have a little fun on the side.

You know, it's an arrangement.

Gareth, there's no such agreement.

I would assume, assuming that is strange.

Yeah.

Being like, oh, he's cheating.

His wife must be cool with it.

No.

Terry and Pete slept together in Tampa, and regularly throughout the season, he made no attempt to hide it from anyone, including his team.

When he wanted her to join him on the road, he had her book flights directly through the team travel secretary.

That does not surprise me, though.

That

sure they do that all the time.

That does not surprise me.

I mean, that you're kind of going, you know, whatever.

I mean, that's like, what is he going to do?

Book his own travel?

In the 70s.

It is so much harder to book your own travel.

How the fuck do you book travel unless through a travel agent in the 70s?

He's going to leave a paper trail.

There's no

you'd go to the fucking airport.

One, please.

You could.

Get the fuck out of here.

What are you talking about?

Hello, I'd like to buy a fly somewhere.

Yeah, I mean, you would just call it, what would you just call it?

The only way to do it was to call a travel agent.

That's it.

That business.

There was definitely some guy who was like, priceline, that won't last.

I actually thought maybe it would be easier to use a travel agent when we first started.

And I was like, all right, there's one in my town.

And I called him up and had him do it.

And it was.

So much worse and so much more.

It was terrible.

I was just like, why do people do this?

I don't know.

We actually were completely flat-footed.

We did not expect this phone to ring.

Have you heard of a price line?

Yeah, exactly.

She could potentially go onto one of those sites.

Quote: She stayed in Pete's hotel room, mingled with the other wives and the press, sunbathed next to manager Sparky Anderson at hotel swimming pools, and cheered Pete all the way to the World Series again.

Terry was in New York in October when the Reds faced the Yankees again to win their second championship in a row.

She was in a hotel room at the New York Sheridan while Carolyn was in another room.

It was brazen even by ball players' standards.

Terry was worried about running into Carolyn in the lobby,

but Pete seemed to get off on pushing the limits.

Terry's family also was into pushing limits, especially her dad.

Famed Florida bookie Ralph Rubio.

Oh, shit.

Here we go.

Now you know how they met.

Yeah, okay.

Right, they didn't bump into each other in the fucking hotel.

She was taking bets or whatever.

Right?

I don't know.

Yes, come on.

It seems strange.

It's very coincidental.

I'm still caught up on the fact that

is he supposed to book her in another hotel?

I mean, that is a huge pain in the ass.

Oh, no.

If you're going to cheat on your wife,

you know, just do a different floor.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's all you do.

Yeah, you just do different floors.

I mean, I guess you could,

yeah.

New York.

I just can't imagine the stress.

World series.

Oh, the stress.

Oh, man.

Truly, like, you know, not cheating, part of it is based on just decency and respect for a relationship.

Yeah.

The other part is

I would just be sitting there the whole time.

It would just be like one night I'd be like, dad, I didn't got my dick sucked.

That's exactly why I don't murder people.

Yeah, me too.

I never murdered anyone.

What?

That's just the way you said it.

It was the tone.

What do you mean?

I never murdered it.

I never

have I ever

done something like that.

What?

Taking a guy, taking a man's life because he's because of the way that I saw it playing out long-term to my advantage.

Why would it play out to your advantage mind games with someone who i need to get control over i haven't done it you have done it have not done it listen clearly

even

what let's just go on yeah i'm ready to go on at some point we're gonna talk about and by the way it's possible just so everyone knows you can take someone's life and still miss well you know what next time we meet roger our uh counselor what we'll talk about i would love to talk about it with roger yeah and bring up the picture of your dad.

A picture of my dad.

Yeah.

So he sees him.

What I saw him as.

Just save it for Roger.

Yeah, that's fine.

Just a great, he's a great man.

Okay.

In 19.

Greater than you.

Were you part of the Sons of the Western Front?

No, neither was he.

Sons of the Western Front is so good.

Sons of the Western Front, Sons of the Western Front.

By the way, when your dad's up there with that little uniform on giving that speech, I think any of them knew that he had a fart chair.

Nobody knew.

That was the great secret.

It's like a rosebud.

Same deal.

Yeah.

Revealing Rosebud like fart chair.

I mean, fart chair at the end of the, like you're watching it.

You're just like, what the fuck?

Wait, what?

What's going on?

Look, if you push it here.

Yeah.

Fart sheriff.

People joining it for the first time are like, what is fucking happening?

This is a history show.

In 1977, Terry got pregnant.

Oh, boy.

On top of that, she was being followed.

Well, most women who are pregnant are.

But she's also the daughter of a big-time bookie.

Sure.

Right.

So she already knew a thing or two, and Terry knew almost instantly she was being tailed and watched.

One of her father's friends at the sheriff's office looked into it and confirmed it.

It was a former New York City cop turned private eye.

Okay.

His client?

No.

Major League Baseball.

Oh, okay.

Because Pete had been making phone calls to Terry from the clubhouse many just before games began.

What the fuck?

That's also weird.

Well, that's very consistent with the behavior of someone who is betting on baseball.

Ah, there we go.

Terry denied and makes the story go away.

Okay.

Pete is very glad to be rid of the story.

He's also happy to be rid of Terry.

He didn't want another wife and another kid.

Like, because she got pregnant, he's like, okay.

So what is it?

Now it's fucking...

But wait.

I'm here to fucking

have another.

Okay, but look, I don't want that.

I just want to play ball and fuck around.

Yeah, well, you shouldn't have to do that.

But the decision has been made to have a baby.

by you and well but not a family like well but a baby it's a baby you're not you can do that over there it's yours it was.

Is not remains

to be.

I'm going to take you out at second.

What are you talking about?

Yeah, I'm going to slide in you so fucking hard.

No, you're not.

I'm going to slide you so fucking off.

No, you're not.

That would be a solution.

So I decided to charge her at the belly.

Yes, he doesn't want another family.

The whole point of fucking around is to fuck around.

Then it gets serious, right?

That's his thing.

That's just really bad.

But also, he just met a cocktail waitress named Carol with, quote, the best ass in Cincinnati.

First of all,

by the way.

Still not the best ass.

I know, but when they gave out that award.

Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the singing of our national asthm.

He would send Terry payments for his illegitimate child,

a daughter, and then he went on his way.

By the way, you know when that kid was born, it like started from the fucking starnote.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Head of steam when it it got.

It dropped out.

Yeah,

took out the doctor.

Just ran through.

Just takes out the doctor.

The doctor drops the forceps.

Is it a boy or a girl?

It's a rose.

Whoa.

It's all hustle.

Don't do that.

Noise, don't.

You see a hugging my hand.

It's too much.

It's too much.

It's just the sound.

Yeah, but it's not necessary.

It's like someone listening to someone go through a plasma stargate.

Okay.

So Carolyn puts up, she puts up with a lot, but Pete's

Pete's with the young girls running around with a cocktail witch just named Carol, which is very close to her name.

That's

also having a kid with another woman.

It's all

some lines have been crossed.

So one day at a concession stand, Fawn and that's his daughter and Carolyn see Carol,

and she's wearing a diamond necklace, which Carolyn recognized,

and

it's something Pete bought for her, and she marched over and ripped it off.

So wait,

he pawned it.

She just, she, she saw it, and she realized, like, that's exactly Pete's style.

Style of buying.

And she ripped it off, and she was like, this is mine, because he bought it with our money.

And Carol was just like, oh,

yeah.

So Pete and Carolyn now separate.

Some women just aren't cut out for relationships.

Yeah, no, they can't.

If If you can't, they're very,

and we say this as two cis white men, but

women just sometimes can't handle what we do.

Well, which is for you.

Which is just, we're incorrigible little scamps who are going to do whatever we want.

And I see hole, me go in.

This is.

Come on now.

Would you just stop?

You read the terms and conditions of this deal.

You make a good point.

Yeah, excuse me.

This thing goes bigger.

Now me use it to go.

Go big.

Go in.

Me go bigger.

Me go in.

Questions later.

Shut up.

Stop texting.

So

they're separated.

Pete moves into a friend's spare room.

How the fuck can he not afford his own spot?

That's a good question.

It's amazing to be like.

Whatever.

So obviously, Pete is going to start playing better now.

Right.

He's got controversy.

He's self-motivating.

He now gets his 3,000 hits.

So only 13 players in the history of baseball have done it.

That's crazy.

He also took a run at the most sacred record in baseball, Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.

That's going to be his penis.

Which is sacred.

It's considered to be the record that will never be broken.

56-game hitting streak.

Yeah.

Okay.

But I mean, he was so used to carrying a bat around in his pants all the time.

Thank you.

So he was very at home just fucking his.

Yes.

Any athlete would be distracted by what's going on at home and his family falling apart.

But Pete just gets locked in.

He's making history.

He passes the National League 37 game hitting streak, and the country's going crazy.

Every team Pete faces, especially their owners, are thrilled.

They congratulate him.

They thank him because he's filling the whole stadium.

It's like Maguire Bonds.

Yeah, it's just packing stadiums.

He's making them tons of money.

When he got to Atlanta, he shouted to the stadium workers, quote, you're going to to love me after tonight.

Well, actually, you know, this job sort of sucks.

Yeah, I make the same if I sell nine hot dogs.

Hourly wage man who has no capability of relating to commoners.

I sell hot dogs, you fuck.

You guys are going to be happy today.

Way you guys mow this grass after I'm gone, huh?

I know every time I leave a comedy club, my last word is,

I just go, you're welcome.

You're welcome.

So the atmosphere is electric.

Braves fans booed their own pitchers when they threw outside.

Oh, yeah.

But by the way, that is shitty.

I get it.

You want him like face the guy,

throw him pitches.

Yeah.

I also like that they have to signal for it.

They're like, be lame.

Yeah.

Be lame.

Could I be lame?

Be lame.

Players on the home team were literally buckling at the knees under the pressure.

In the sixth inning, Pete hit a ground ball past a diving second baseman and the stadium exploded.

The streak was up to 44 games.

And the record's 56.

56.

I remember this.

Yeah, right.

The next day, Pete ran into something you cannot out-hustle, and that is bad luck.

He hit two really hard line drives, one right to third base, and one that led to a highlight reel catch.

by a career minor league pitcher who couldn't, he couldn't believe what he'd done.

He's just like looking at his glove.

The inning ended and the pitcher's just staring dumbfounded at his glove.

And Pete has one last chance, one last at bat

against Braves Club.

Why didn't you just run into the pitcher when you go?

Good question.

Good question.

It just seems like the logical move.

It is a good question.

Attack him and say, oh, I was sliding in the mound.

Let me ask you a baseball question.

Please.

Finally.

If you're on base at first and you're going to second, can you run to the outfield fence?

As like a detour?

Yeah.

Can you run?

I don't believe you can.

I believe there is a little bit of...

I think they keep you zoned in a little.

You can run to the outfield fence.

No, you can't.

Yes, you can.

So you could.

You make your own base path.

So wherever you go, you just have to go back.

So you can run to the outfield fence and then to second.

Has anyone ever been the funniest baseball player of all?

Because if there's a guy on third, you can distract the team by running to the outfield fence and then they don't know what to do.

Is there footage of this?

I don't know if it's ever happened in a pro game, but it's definitely not in a game.

I would just be doing that regularly.

My dream is to coach a high school team and just do trick plays the whole time.

And fuck it, everybody's happy.

This movie should be made.

Oh, it would be so fun.

Trick Daddy.

Just make the old guys so mad.

What's that bush leak?

We don't do that.

Well, I just did it, motherfucker.

He came back with a tennis record.

So he has one last chance, one last sabbat to

continue the history.

The Braves closer is Gene Garber, and Gene is an Henri type.

Sure.

He had just been traded from the Phillies, who could go on to win the World Series, to the Braves, who are fucking terrible.

So he's bummed.

Sure.

Like last year, there was a guy who was on, I think, the Dodgers, and he got traded to the White Sox.

The Dodgers go on to win the World Series.

The White Sox are the historically worst.

I think they had the worst record in the history of baseball.

Wow.

So it's like that.

Like, you're just bummed.

Yeah, yeah.

You're fucking bummed.

Now, at least he'd have a chance to go against the former MVP.

So this is like...

This is his World Series.

Yeah, it's one of bats.

It's his World Series.

Millions of people watching.

In the country, wherever you are, they cut into

whatever.

TV show you're watching to show the at-bat.

You know, can we just say how it must have been really easy for Caroline right now?

I mean, I think we're forgetting about how this probably just made her life a lot easier.

Watching the philanderer who you've attached your existence to be treated as a hero every time he does his dumb sport thing, they would cut in when he was also fucking Carol.

We now go live to Pete Rose, who's about to finish on her tits.

That go weird.

Why?

I was talking about them making love, and you took it to a very dirty place.

Excuse me, sorry.

How do you you end Coitis?

Exactly.

Face?

We're all aiming face.

This podcast is a disaster.

We've lost so many lives.

Pete Rich is a Pete Rose episode.

That's true.

Yeah, so it's cutting in.

So there's millions and millions of people watching just to show this at bat.

Two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Okay.

And it's his World Series.

It's the Pitcher's World Series, like we said.

Now, the one thing he knows is he can't walk him because people would lose their fucking minds.

Yeah, right.

And they'd remember him forever.

But he's a breaking ball pitcher.

So he, so that means the ball moves a lot and is slower, right?

Not just fast on the metal.

I'm not trying to overpower a guy.

It's moving to trick him.

Fastballs are the most likely

to hit the strike zone.

Garber's fastballs is the least reliable pitch.

So he's going to throw junk, as it's called.

He got Pete to a two-and-two count with a change-up, and then he does what nobody ever fucking does to Pete Rose.

Ever.

He throws the exact same pitch twice in a row.

Oh, dear.

And Pete can't help it.

He swings

too soon.

And

Garber jumps up and does a massive fist pump.

He took out the mighty Pete Rose.

And the streak.

Wow.

Now, you'd think that someone who hustled and tried and worked as hard as Pete Rose,

someone who ended an opponent's career at a meaningless exhibition game by just taking him out, would respect the duel that he just lost.

Mano a mano.

Sure.

You took me on.

You beat me.

Sure.

No.

He called the change-up quote a bastard pitch.

He wanted the easiest pitch to hit.

He wanted the fastball.

That's not how it works, man.

No.

Well, you lose.

There is a lot of that where it's like, you cannot complain about how someone beat you.

If you lost within the rules, what were you going to do?

You lost.

He got, that's what happens in your battery.

The pitcher outthought you.

Yeah.

Bastard pitch.

He said he hoped Garber pitched again the next night.

Not so he'd get a hit off him, but so he could smash a line, drive directly back at Garber's head.

Doesn't matter, bro.

Fucking lost.

And his friends in the press made sure he was still the hero and Garber was the villain.

40 years later, Garber still has to defend why he tried to be good at baseball from fans who only heard Pete's side of the story.

Quote, people don't let me forget it or go to sleep at night without remembering.

Oh, God.

Well, like you're saying,

it's just the...

What sport does to us is truly

it's just baffling there's also there's a there's a level of entitlement also with some of these guys which we saw play out in the nfl draft yeah there's a level of entitlement that some of these guys have that is crazy yep like you're you're supposed you're living in pete rose's world yep he's not living in a world of a bunch of other people so you're supposed to do the thing that helps him yeah elon musk disease yeah what what do you mean nothing i just like the cars oh yeah yeah yeah he's yeah he's great

He invented cars.

He knows what he's doing.

He invented cars.

It's going good.

And rockets.

He wore two hats today.

Yeah.

It's like cool.

It's funny.

It's goofy.

But here's the thing that happened with this hitting streak.

It brought his family back together.

What?

Because they had to reunite to go to the White House to meet Jimmy Carter, and he can't let the kids miss out.

I bet I know what that sounded like.

Well, so we're very excited to have P.

Rose here today.

They call it the Rose Garden, but I call it the P.

Rose Garden.

Well, he's here today.

The P.

Rose Garden.

I understand

he

tried to have sex with someone from the White House press call

while he was here with his family.

That's Jimmy Carter.

Oh, that's Jimmy Carter.

I thought it was like a

woman from

Tennessee.

I'm the president.

I'm soft-spoken.

I put solar panels on the White House, Jay.

You like,

hey.

Maybe if I had done a little bit more, you would not be living in a nightmare.

It's great to

get inside Garrett's mind to know what he remembers about.

I know a lot about Garrett.

Ask me a question.

Ask me a question.

What's his wife's name?

Rosalind.

Oh, shit.

Oh, that just happened.

Allow me to take my cock out.

That'll teach you.

No, no.

So you thought you're smarter than me?

I know I'm smarter than you.

No.

What's my wife's name?

Exactly.

Bridget.

You're an idiot.

So he's not going to show up to the White House without the kids

because that would be weird for, you know, visual reasons.

And then on the trip,

Carolyn and Pete reconcile.

By the way, I got a good feeling.

Yeah, this is going to go.

This is a distance.

I think this is going to to be okay.

He's going to be a 56.

He's learned a lesson.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So he moves back home.

He seems pretty happy.

Sure.

He seems pretty happy.

They always are.

They always are, Dave.

Trust me.

When they move back in, Dave, they're happy.

Here's the big problem, though.

The Reds have a new team president.

He is not like Pete Rose as a player, but more importantly, as a person.

He's a piece of shit.

He thought Pete's gambling and womanizing and just general state of Pete were a distraction to the team.

And the fact that Pete's play was starting to slightly decline

made it worse.

He thought Pete would still be at the top of his game if he was on the straight and arrow.

Right.

And

the timing of this,

well, Pete's contract is up.

Okay.

So he wants to stay in Cincinnati where he lived his entire life.

Yeah.

But he's like, if I have to go somewhere else to play

baseball and get what I deserve, then I'll do it.

Sure.

And now, Kurt Flood, we talked about a previous episode.

His thing has happened, and players have won free agency right around this time.

So he can sign whatever team he wants now that his contract's up.

And Pete is going to be one of the best players, best paid players in baseball.

But he also wants to go to a team that's going to win the World Series.

Sure.

He turns down the Royals,

which they part of the deal was to offer him a stake in the owner's oil fields.

Oh, my gosh.

she's disgusting.

Oh my God.

Just

playing for the Royals to get oil.

The Braves offered him, part of their offer was $100,000 pension for the rest of his life.

That's a great offer.

He even turned down a Budweiser distributor ship.

A Budweiser?

What?

And also, racehorses.

He turned on racehorses.

What about money?

Anyone got money?

Well, he does.

He joins the Philadelphia Affiliates for less money because they're actual contenders.

Okay.

But he doesn't ask.

And you get a bunch of go-karts.

He doesn't ask Caroline.

Sure.

He just does it.

Now,

she has to upward.

Well, what is he supposed to do?

Talk it over with your wife.

Okay, let me walk you through how that's going to go.

Okay.

You be him.

I'll be her.

Okay.

I'm probably going to.

Philadelphia looks like the place I think.

No, I'm comfortable here.

It's all about me.

See?

That's why you don't tell her.

You just go.

That's why you, by the way, you fucking put a little...

You blow dart her.

Where's that?

You blow dart her.

Let me explain it if you give me a minute.

And then she wakes up in Philly.

It's fine.

It's fine.

It's not the fact that she's.

The second that you're open.

Hold on.

It's not how she gets there.

You don't know that.

It's living there.

It's not like if she wakes up there, she's going to be like, oh, great.

That's what she's doing.

Yeah, let me finish.

You create a neighborhood that is very much like the one she just left, and she doesn't ever know the difference.

Why do you seem frustrated?

Which is the biggest thing that I've ever heard from.

This is how marriages should work.

It sounds like you're making the Truman show.

Okay.

A great movie.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is a great movie.

There you go.

Okay.

So she just uprooted her whole life.

That's where she lived all of her life.

She had three major concerns.

One,

if that

whore Carol is going to be there.

Okay.

Two, hoping the other wives on the Phillies would like her.

Okay.

And three, if Philadelphia had a Kmart.

Because

that was great news about the third one.

Carolyn was known for being the only person in Cincinnati who would roll up to Kmart in a Rolls-Royce.

Oh, my God.

Jesus Christ.

I don't know what's happening.

I don't know.

Yeah, I get it.

Okay.

Sometimes I drive my Hyundai to Dollar General just because we're omnipotent.

Do Kmarts even exist anymore?

There's like a couple.

Yeah.

They're hanging on there.

Yeah.

Barely.

It's like a Chuck E.

Cheese or a Blockbuster.

Yeah.

At spring training, seven-year-old Little Pete Jr.

was wandering around the hotel room with his glove and ball.

He's looking for someone to play with.

Just wanted to find someone to play

baseball with.

And there's a college team from Massachusetts there.

Tommy Giosa was a very nice, very nice kid.

And he thought, why don't they make this young boy's afternoon?

Sure.

So they played for a few hours.

A few hours?

I don't know.

Let's just say some hours.

And then

when the buses pulled in from the stadium, Pete Jr.

grabs Tommy's hand and

ran him up to his room to introduce him to his mom and dad.

I love the setup.

And all of a sudden, Tommy is standing face to face with his favorite baseball player who

he modeled this whole game after.

It's Pete Rose, the guy, his hero.

I killed the second baseman.

I've been fucking around just like you do.

It's awesome.

I went to the showers and looked at an old guy's dick.

Yeah, you're my Joe DiMaggio.

So Pete is genuinely moved by Tommy for paying attention to his son.

I thought Pete was going to be threatened by him.

No, they strike up

like an unlikely friendship.

Okay.

And Pete liked feeling young, and Tommy likes being friends with Pete Rose.

So pretty soon Tommy is going with Pete and the Cuban on triple headers.

We never learn more about the Cuban.

I don't want to.

I don't either, right?

It's enough.

It's perfect the way it is.

He's like an apparition.

So horse racing, dog racing, and high-lai.

This guy was just like, I don't know.

Then Tommy was coming to Cincinnati to visit and hang out with Pete Jr.

And Pete thought, hey, Tommy, Tommy's a good time.

Why doesn't he just stay here with us?

Why doesn't he just stay?

And while we're at it, why not get Tommy into the farm system of the Phillies?

Just get him into the farm system of the baseball team.

So Pete pulled some strings and got Tommy a spot as a minor leaguer for the Orioles.

Orioles, O-R-I-E-L-S.

Not the.

I think it's a Philly farm team.

Oh, okay.

Sure.

So the shitty Orioles.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The shitty.

Yeah.

At home, Pete gives odd jobs to Tommy, a little work here and there.

And put a bunch of holes in the ceiling.

Like running bets to bookies.

Okay.

Coordinating Pete's girls in the cities and each team he's playing in.

And once sneaking out early in the morning and disposing of a newspaper with a front-page story about Pete's baby mama Terry filing a paternity suit.

What the fuck?

Pete is thinking is so short-sighted.

The idea that you can just get rid of the paper gets rid of the news.

What kind of like...

It's so like old cartoony.

Yeah, like if you...

If you,

if that, not, you, you need to be be like find every one of her friends and get rid of their papers too just get rid of the papers she won't know

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Tommy was a very kind kid.

He's not a very smart guy.

Sometime in the past few months, Pete stopped paying Terry for their daughter.

Okay.

Everybody knew that

Morgan Rubio was Pete's daughter.

Okay.

But Pete seemed to think that he just didn't need to pay for her anymore because he just didn't want to do it.

Sure.

So is that not kind of like.

If you don't want to, then you don't.

I'm good.

You don't do it.

Yeah.

So he has nothing to do with his kid.

That's a good dad.

But Terry is not the kind of lady who just takes it,

right?

She's just, she's a fucking Bookie's daughter.

She's not going to.

So for once in life, Pete, Pete has to face consequences.

And Terry went to the press saying, quote, when you have a strong hand, you play it to the hilt and you don't fold.

A few weeks later, Terry went to the spring training hotel and approached a sunbathing Caroline

and introduced her to her husband's illegitimate daughter.

This is...

That's

sexy.

This is how...

This is...

Well, this is the sort of thing, too, where it's like, you know, when you used to watch those, like, with Jerry Springer, and it'd be like, it is.

The two people who have no beef with each other really have beef with the person in the middle and they fight each other.

It's like, this is all Pete's fault.

Yes.

Everything is about, but they're just now, it's like, all right, Carolyn, this is what you get for marrying a perfect man.

Carolyn is shocked, mortified.

Terry said she later felt bad, but she wanted Pete, know, Pete to know how

little bullshit was she was going to put up with.

Okay.

And

she was going to ruin his life if he ruined hers.

Pete got the message and he settles very quickly after that.

Nice.

It was a good try, Pete.

What did you know?

Samantha Stevenson successfully sued to allow female reporters into post-game locker rooms so they could do their jobs just like men do.

The big issue was that the athletes were naked and they were women.

That's kind of the whole issue.

Sure.

After she won, multiple players' wives would physically try and prevent her from entering the locker rooms, blocking the entrances.

Okay.

Can't see my husband's dick.

Yeah.

That's for the women he's fornicating with behind my back.

That's for the 15-year-old girl at Florida.

Excuse me.

Samantha was tapped by Playboy to write one of its prestigious interviews with Pete.

So if you're

any Playboy interview in the 70s with a man was pretty bad.

But yes, but

they were like some of the biggest interview.

Oh, huge.

Playboy interview was like...

Huge.

Bob Dylan,

Governor Jerry Brown, Muhammad ali like huge people did these things yep

so the person it also gave husbands the ability to say i get it for the articles for a long time 100

the person interviewed the month prior was edward teller the father of the hydrogen bomb nice pete

he's usually a step ahead of reporters or sways them in a way but he's a little blindsided um

stevenson quote carolyn told us that she has called you on the road and not been able to find you.

She said she presumes you were screwing around.

She seems to make a joke out of it.

Rose, well, she would make a joke about it, but she'll take it.

She won't say nothing.

She knows what I like for her to

say and not to say.

Okay.

Hey, anyway, this is why we have PR people.

Wow.

You hear the gunshot of a PR person.

Yeah, yeah.

Wow.

So he's clearly flustered.

He did not expect this.

Even if you're flustered, you come up with a better answer.

Oh my god, she shuts up and takes it.

She fucking knows when to shut her goddamn mouth.

Be like, oh, yeah, we tease each other.

It's fun.

So he's very upset.

He goes on to attack Stevenson for doing post-game locker room interviews.

Quote, tell me, how does it feel to have all this cock staring in your face?

Does it make you embarrassed?

Do you like it?

So that doesn't go.

That's not a great interview for that was.

Jesus Christ.

Just.

What a go-to.

Ugh.

By the way, the idea that you're just like, we can't figure out how to not have our penises out.

Unfortunately, we're going to be unable to have women in here because our penises have to be out the whole time.

What sort of weird shit is that?

Can I just say, I don't want to walk around with my dick out around just diverging?

Oh, my God, dude.

He runs their dick out all the time.

I remember being the scarring that happened to me when I accidentally walked into the YMCA adult locker room when I was terrifying.

I mean, it's just like, honestly.

I don't think...

Look, I don't know what it's like.

I just could tell you that

the worst people on earth are the men in the men's locker room who want to walk around naked and do everything with their dick out.

Like the guy is like, I'm going to do some sit-ups on the floor here with my cock out.

And you're like, oh, cool.

Yeah, you can put on underwear before you go to do your hair.

Yeah.

I mean, honestly, throw on a fucking, put on some shorts.

Yeah.

So that, I mean, that's what we're talking about.

Like, they just want to walk around with their dick out.

They want, they felt like, yeah, they were.

They didn't want women in there.

And that's, and that's a fucking silverback thing around like reporters who aren't athletes, right?

You want to walk around and be like, yeah.

Although I do feel, now I feel sorry for the athlete who was a little one.

Well, I mean, yeah, well, honestly, I mean, he was probably chubbing up.

There's definitely.

Oh, yeah, I bet they work it a little bit before they come out.

What is that length, though?

I don't know.

It's so fucking weird.

It's just both penis culture, locker room penis culture.

It's very weird.

But, you know, this is a very competitive,

masculine, hyper-masculine sort of.

Anyway,

DiMaggio, though.

DiMaggio.

That guy had a, I mean, it was like a root seller.

Looked like he was.

Yeah, absolutely.

Root seller.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He had a shower for him and one for that anaconda.

So Pete's new

mistress Carol the bartender great ass great assassin innocently she's in Philly and Carolyn knew because she saw Carol driving near the family home and a Porsche looked familiar The reason why it looked familiar

It's Carolyn's car interesting So Pete has a thing Pete's really dumb while

Even if you're the other woman,

wouldn't you not want to drive the car does she know?

I bet she doesn't know.

Man, I bet you doesn't know he's regifting.

Yeah.

While the Porsche was stopped at a light, Carolyn calmly approached the driver's side, opened the door.

I don't know if it was a calm approach.

It looks like Grand Theft Auto.

I don't know if it's a calm approach.

And punched the shit out of her husband's mouth.

No longer a calm approach.

Right in the mouth.

Just starts to punch her in the mouth.

Jesus Christ.

It's hot.

No.

It's hot.

When the Phillies went on their next road trip, Carolyn packed up her things, taken Fawn and Pete Jr., and went back to Cincinnati.

Okay.

As soon as she got there she called the lawyer and filed for divorce

he started playing better

dude come on divorce me like divorce me 10 times

i'm gonna be the batting champion

he hit an astounding 468 for the rest of the year i've never heard of that so

so what that's i don't know when this happened exactly i don't know what part of the year but 468 for any

shocking for a month isn't like that's insane shocking uh like if you don't understand

whatever 400 means you hit four out of ten times right like i think to be hitting almost five fifty percent of the time you're up is i think it's one or two guys that have hit over 400 like no one's

you're getting on base yeah just to be clear phillies won the world series yeah okay the best uh the team's best player mike schitt credited mike shit schmidt credited pete for his leadership okay

pete hit hit 400 in the NLCS.

He got six hits in the World Series.

He's a champion again, third-time champion.

Wow.

Yeah.

I mean, look, on the field.

Yeah.

Great.

Yeah.

On the field, great.

Three weeks after Carolyn filed for divorce, Pete got an invite to appear on NFL Today pregame show.

Sure, talk baseball, but this is an NFL show.

And at the time, they had a guy on there every week called Jimmy the Greek, and he would handicap games.

So he was like the guy in Vegas who did the betting stuff.

Yep.

Yeah, he was one of the first guys who was like, this is my lack of the week.

So Jimmy the Greek is not there that week.

So Pete is filling in and Pete picks Buffalo to beat the Bears.

Falcons over Green Bay, New England to beat Detroit.

Host Brett

Musberger is pleasantly surprised.

at Pete's expertise.

Quote, where did you get all that stuff?

And Pete smiled.

I follow football pretty good.

After Pete sat with the hosts in front of a wall of TVs with every single game on.

It's magical.

An unforgettable thing.

Quote, a gambler's delight.

1983,

42, 42 years old.

Yeah.

His play is diminishing, obviously.

Sure.

Philly's made the World Series again, but for the first time in his career, he watched from the dugout because he was benched.

He couldn't hack it in the big leagues.

Also, his little buddy, Tommy Giosa, could not hack it in the minors.

Tommy, like Pete, too small.

He tried hard.

Pete said he played like he's, quote, pouring gasoline on himself while running through hell.

Sorry.

We're complimenting the gentleman?

Dude, that's good.

Like you're poor guy.

If you're going through hell, you pour gas on yourself.

Sure.

And then you fucking run.

Okay.

Seems a little.

You fucking run.

Okay.

But it's not the 60s 60s now.

It's the 80s.

Things have changed.

Non-white people are playing for one.

That's tough.

So remember in the

yeah, so it went from like you had to be the best black player to play and all the smaller roles are filled by white guys and now more black guys are filled by playing.

Now you got to be the best white guy to play.

Yeah, it's hard.

Yeah, it's hard.

Yeah, so all those little, so whatever.

So there's more, there's more non-whites.

A non-athletic little white guy could no longer hack into the majors just on effort.

And Tommy was cut and he went back to Cincinnati, back to Pete's condo, and his old job is the doorman of the bar where Carol used to waitress.

But he's going to get bigger after this.

He's going to get bigger and stronger.

Tommy is.

Yeah.

Sure.

So the bartender helped him out.

Uh-oh.

Bartender there pulled out a syringe and told Tommy to pull down his pants.

The steroid results were almost immediate.

Sure.

Instead of benching 135, he was up to 400.

Holy shit.

Can I just say 135 is so little?

Yeah.

Finn benches.

That's like mine.

The Finn bench is like 200.

It's like mine.

400 is crazy.

400 is shy.

400 is crazy.

Those Roid numbers are really.

Back then, Reids were

like now you could kind of hide them a little bit.

Yeah.

But back then it was like...

Like people, you popped.

No, you had to be very careful.

You had to try to make it gradual.

You couldn't like three weeks later be like, yeah, yeah, I could lift a building.

So he feels invincible.

He's hooked on steroids.

He gets a real steroid dealer, a handsome man who would rip off his shirt just by flexing his muscles.

Paul Jensen.

Maybe you should get a, but just

thinking logically, maybe it'd go up a size.

Yeah, no.

I don't know.

I mean, it's just, do you need to.

I think you keep doing it until you don't have shirts.

Yeah.

I don't know.

And then you're that guy.

You're a shirt guy.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Pete was only 10 hits shy of 4,000.

Wow.

And how many people?

That's low.

I think two.

Wow.

At this time.

201 away from Ty Cobb's all-time record of most hits in baseball history.

Another great guy.

He used to get 200 in a season, but now that might take years.

Right.

And who wanted to have a middle-age hitter who couldn't hit?

Right.

A first baseman, no range.

Like the only team to offer him a contract was the Montreal Expos, but they mostly want his name, not their play.

Right.

Because

you can probably pay him enough that you can make up the salary

in shirt sales.

Right.

In 1983, the Cincinnati Reds were at their lowest point in 40 years.

We talking.

Dick Wagner, the GM, who drove Pete out, also drove out the rest of the team.

They're losing so much.

that attendance has dropped to half what it was.

And this really pissed off the chain-smoking, used car salesman, racist part owner, Marge Schott.

Ha ha!

Friend of show.

I would love to do an episode about her, but how many times can you use the term N-word?

Oh, man, I would really,

I think our audience, and we would really love to hear

somebody's comfortable.

Quote: Marge had deep Cincinnati roots, old German money, an undying love for large St.

Bernard dogs, a knack for being the loudest person in the room, and a penchant for saying all the wrong things.

In Marge's parlance, Jewish people were sneaky Jew bastards, Asian people were japs, black athletes were million-dollar N-words, and Dick Wagner was a buffoon and idiot who deserved to be mocked in the public square.

Oh, Christ.

She was just the worst human being.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, she was she born into money?

Yeah.

Yes.

I know her husband, Her husband was part owner and then he died and that's how she got what she got.

So maybe she married into it.

She hired me running the Department of Education.

She hired a prop plane to fly over the stadium with images of the big red machine greats Tony Press, Joe, Morgan, and Pete that said, Tony, Pete, Joe, help.

Love Marge.

Fucking

crazy to decide to pull that on your own team.

Well, she's part owner, so she doesn't have all the control.

She planned an I Hate Dick Wagner night at the ballpark with a local radio host raising money from fans for another Skyward banner.

This one reading, Pete Rose forever, Dick Wagner never.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

So the rest of the ownership finally comes around.

And

to the Pete.

Well, they have a meeting and they decide.

We can't fire Dick.

As her giant St.

Bernard was pissing on the floor.

St.

Bernard's name is Shotzi.

they decided to fire Dick Wagner.

Okay.

And they brought in the old GM from the big

red machine days, and he knew how to fill seats.

So they're really, her great plan is just like, go back to what it was like.

Yeah, to when they do the exact same thing from before.

They're all fucking old.

Yeah, they're old.

They needed Pete Rose.

He can't play, though.

So

he's not good enough to play.

They killed two birds with one stone by getting rid of their old manager, too.

Pete is about to be baseball's last player manager.

Whoa.

The last middle-aged man who could justify wearing a uniform in the dugout.

Wow.

So Pete's back in Cincinnati.

And he's coaching?

He's coaching.

He's a player manager.

Oh, my God.

He married Carol.

He bought a big house.

Has another kid.

He seems to be straightening out his life.

Sure.

I can't believe he's in charge of both.

Yeah.

No manager will play Pete Rose.

That's why Pete will play Pete Rose.

I mean, that's what it looks like from the outside, right?

That he's putting it all together.

But in reality, his gambling is getting way worse.

It all came from the fact that he simply would not pay people when he didn't feel like paying them.

It's the same thing he did with his illegitimate child.

Right.

He just is like, when he's done, he's done.

I'm done.

Sure.

He owed

tens of thousands of dollars to a guy and he just ignored him okay

what's he gonna do he's pete rose what's the guy gonna do kill him okay

he and tommy would laugh it up at the condo playing catch with stacks of ten thousand dollars he owed to bookies that's fun that's kind of fun

rolling balls of cash at each other like grounders rolling a ball of cash like a watted ball yeah

because of this none of the local number runners would take his business

anymore.

So where does he go?

To Terry's.

The mob.

Okay, good.

Definitely who you.

Yep, for sure.

Pete is in deep with a guy known as the skin man from the Dayton Syndicate.

Now, well, hold on now, Dave, because it depends.

Why is he called the Skin Man?

I assume he has a lot of skin?

That's what I'm hoping for.

I'm hoping he looks like the skinny 1,000-pound sister, where it's just he's waiting for the surgery to have it all sort of

correlated off.

Or he's got like a giant walk-in

freezer and he opens it up and there's just all the skin of the people.

Yeah, that's that's, I mean, again, it's hard to get specific, but you would start if it is like other people's skin because of deaths, then that's a problem.

At this point, it's believed that Pete was just betting on football, basketball horses, and obscure sports like High Lie.

But the skin man has evidence to the contrary.

And when he showed up to Pete's house unannounced, he came to collect.

He just like flies in like a flying squirrel with all of his skin.

God, Skin Man.

That's right, Pete.

I believe you owe me a little money, don't you?

What the fuck is coming from the sky?

But he's not just collecting money.

The skin man's a smart guy.

He knew that he could get something more from Pete.

Yeah.

Quote, hey, remember when you made that bet on the Reds back in 77?

Skin Man asked.

Pretty much out of the blue.

Pete,

he's like, yeah.

And he also, okay.

He agrees to pay him back by the end of spring training.

So he's saying, like,

bitch, I know you bet on baseball.

I know.

He's a little bit like a Batman villain, the Skin Man.

Yeah, a little bit.

Remember when you bet on those games back in 77, Pete?

Excuse me.

I've got a little bit of cash under this this fold.

So what Pete knew was that Scamana brought that up for a reason, and

he had a device, and he was recording it.

So as soon as he had to...

I don't know where it's hidden under all those folds.

So Pete now goes to Joe Camber, who is a bookie with the Rhode Island mob.

The Rhode Island mob is the saddest mob.

Yo, what's up?

Yeah, nobody does business in Rhode Island unless they talk to us.

Don't make me take off my deck shoes.

What are you gonna do?

Go to Connecticut?

Probably.

Well, no, don't.

Hold on, wait.

That'll take like 10 minutes.

Come on, we're like a sliver.

Come on, relax.

We're the Rhode Island mob.

Come on, it's just me and my buddy, Tommy.

Come on.

Literally nothing happens in Rhode Island without us knowing about it.

I mean, nothing.

Have a party or something, is what I'm saying.

There you go.

You want a pie?

I mean, it's just a lot of gossip.

Not great, to be honest with you.

We're just kind of.

The closest casino is like Triawa, so we're just trying.

Hey, yeah, Tommy got a boat.

Yeah, that's it.

It's here.

Yeah, it was gossiping.

It's just gossiping.

Ah, look, sit.

Tell you what.

I got nothing.

Nothing.

I was just going to.

Hey, Providence.

Yeah.

The Rhode Island mob is kind of.

That shit.

Yeah, that should go.

Okay.

I gotta.

You know what we gotta do tomorrow?

What?

We gotta take all that change I have and take it to the bank.

See

how many dollar bills there are in there.

That's gonna be a pretty penny.

Don't fuck with us.

Yeah, you come.

Hey, you come to the Rhode Island mob, you best win.

Yeah,

we're gonna make you count change.

Yeah, otherwise you pay.

They could just kind of

go around the states.

Oh, God.

I can't pay my rent.

No, me either.

I'm renting all my furniture.

Okay.

Yeah, I just wish my parents had made a move when I was younger.

It would be a terrible place to stay.

I don't know.

Jesus Christ, invest something.

Whatever.

You know what I mean?

Christ.

Holy fuck.

I mean, I do still work at Baskin-Robbins, but.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, let's maybe meet up tomorrow.

Yeah.

All right.

Hey, don't fuck with with me.

Hey, we better watch out.

Yeah.

Hey, watch out.

He sleeps with the fishes.

All right.

I mean, it's really a pond.

Someone took my beach towel.

Yeah.

All right.

Tell Stacey I said hi.

Okay.

Said my best.

I'm still.

Did you say something?

No.

Oh, what are you going to say?

Nothing.

Well, maybe we should kill the guy.

Yeah.

I don't have it in the

equipment.

Yeah.

All right.

I get you.

Get you, right?

I swear to God, I can't do this anymore.

So there goes the Rhode Island mob.

Pete, it's an honor.

I should keep the camera.

He was bringing out a half million weekend on bets, so

he doesn't have to go after Pete for late payments because he's rolling in it.

Right, okay.

And Pete liked this arrangement, but the timing isn't great because right as they start their relationship, the Massachusetts State Police begin an undercover operation infiltrating the Rhode Island mob.

And Pete also at this time had someone cork his bat.

Oh.

So corking a bat makes the bat lighter.

So

bats are kind of heavy.

So as you get older, they get harder to swing.

And also it makes it pop, it makes the

minimum weight a bat has to be.

Yes.

And

so...

Well, the ball also bounces off a little bit because it's got a cork in the middle.

So

they have more control of the batter's box, more accuracy, easier to find the sweet spot on the bat.

You can start your swing later, improve your timing.

It just makes you a better hitter.

Sure.

So Pete was going to do whatever it takes to beat Ty Cobb's record.

Sure.

And this included working out like he never had.

Tommy tells Pete, go to Gold's Gym.

Mr.

Ohio works out there.

A former U.S., Mr.

USA runner-up.

Some Cincinnati beggles work out there.

You can get whatever you want there, right they got bench presses tanning beds aerobics steroids cocaine all the idea that he made he just leans into tanning boy I've never seen Pete in this kind of color look at him

uh steroids and cocaine of course sure the other things that

um turns out the the owners of golds are uh prolific cocaine dealers right they would sell at the juice bar I mean, I like it.

Could I get a, I guess I'll get a green machine.

Okay.

And I guess

give me like an eight-ball cookie.

Okay.

All right.

No problem.

Just give us a second here.

Okay.

Doing Royds just for tanning.

Oh, so good.

I mean, I've never seen a guy stay in the bed this long.

He's fucking huge.

He's unbelievable.

You got to see the color of Pete right there.

Pete.

He's a dark burgundy.

He's a crazy Pete.

Pete looks like a Merlot.

Come, come, Pete.

Pete is very oddly colored.

Burnt Pete.

He's pretty bad, honestly.

So one of these owners had a connection in South Florida.

He'd fly down, make a deal, and fly back, and then a mule would drive the Coke back to Ohio.

Okay.

Tommy said, Pete asked the owner, where'd you get all this money?

And the owner, quote, cocaine.

Pete asked how he and Tommy can make money off this.

And the owner tells Pete to give him $100,000.

He can turn it into $200,000 in two weeks.

And Pete's face lights up.

Quote, really?

You're kidding me.

Yeah, it was very stupid.

Tommy later said he was, quote, roided out of my mind at the time, but I'm looking at him like, are you nuts?

So Tommy, who's put on over 200 pounds of muscle from steroids, is like, hey, Pete, what are we doing?

Our decision making is a little off on this one.

By 1985, the owners were sending down $100,000 per shipment, and Tommy is one of the main mules driving it up.

He said Pete was financing because he needed the profits to pay his gambling debts.

Yeah.

So now he's doing cocaine

deals to pay his gambling.

Sure.

Tommy wanted to help and of course Tommy wanted to cut.

Steroids are rampant in the gym.

Old ball players do not use steroids to bulk up.

It helps them recover faster, gain lean muscle, shed fat that comes when your body stops producing as much testosterone.

Sure.

Now, there's no proof that Pete was using steroids, but some have speculated that based on his other proven cheating method of corking his bat and the ubiquity of steroids in the gym, he may have been trying to tip the scales more.

Sure.

Usually

in baseball, when guys

have a 40-plus spurt of production,

it's steroids.

Right.

And there's definitely guys that people are like, they're amazing.

And they, like, David Ortiz, I remember like his last year.

I think it was his last year.

He just put the team on his back

and won the World Series, like almost on his own.

And people are like, it's amazing.

And I'm like, yeah, I mean, it's clearly steroids.

When there's so many of those guys in baseball.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's a ton.

Like the

Verlander is a guy that he just keeps pitching.

He's pitching for the team.

Yeah.

And you're just like, yeah, he's on steroids just to recover.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

I mean, allegedly.

But yeah,

when you get old and you're still playing and you're putting in

like good

you're on Reid.

You're like, nobody's fucking doing it at 40.

Did Pete physically change?

I don't know if he did.

See, that's what I remember.

But again, for a lot of these older guys, it is about recovery.

It's about,

you know.

Tommy met.

a new bookie for Pete at the gym.

He's a massive cokehead named Ron Peters.

And Ron.

Get involved.

When you meet a huge cokehead at the gym, give him the keys to the castle.

Absolutely.

Let this guy, this is is who you want to be working with.

That's who knows how to get it done.

Yes.

If you're doing Cokehead, name and time of Cokeheads lied.

Well,

who does Coke to party?

Everybody.

Who does Coke to go out on the boat?

Everybody, right?

Yeah.

Who does Coke to go to the gym?

A fucking guy who's committed.

Some of my favorite workouts are from Coke.

Oh, my God.

I mean, is there anything more exciting than to do Coke and lift weights?

No, I mean, the only thing I would say is to do method and hit a spin class.

Yeah, it's awesome.

That's great.

Sorry, the class was over an hour and a half

You bite the person cycling next to you.

Ron told everyone Pete was betting with him and even put Pete on a speakerphone in front of his buddies.

So you're telling me that when you meet a cokehead at the gym and just start gambling with them with no vetting at all, it puts you in a bit of a compromised situation with your vice that is taking over your professional life.

Yeah, it's not, yeah.

It's interesting because I don't know.

It's almost like addicts make bad decisions.

There's a guy, I've been hanging out with an Adderall head at Bally's.

Yeah.

And this guy, I've given him everything.

He knows everything about me.

Yeah.

He's given Social Security, everything.

Yeah.

I do Molly with a guy at 24 Hours Fitness.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I do a lot of toad poison with a guy at 24.

You just meet these guys.

Yeah.

They're great guys.

So Pete's now reckless.

He's now betting as much as $15,000 per day on college hoops and the NBA, obscure college sports.

Man, if the Ocho had been around.

Well, the truth is that the deeper someone gets into a gambling problem, the more the sports just become obscure because you want to do it every moment of every day.

So you start finding like it's ping-pong, it's sumo.

I mean, I truly believe that one of the reasons you're seeing all these changes in sports is because ESPN's getting into gambling.

They're all getting into gambling.

And one of the reasons ESPN is putting on the Ocho, which is...

Right.

I mean, have you seen it?

No.

It's like the other day I watched, you know, the

basketball shooting game in bars?

Oh, Papa Shot.

Yeah, I watched the championship.

What the fuck?

It was crazy.

But clearly, three of them had never really done it that much.

One guy was really good, but I was just like laughing.

Me and Finn are watching, and I'm just like, this is crazy.

And then I'm like, oh, it's because of the degenerate gamblers.

Wouldn't it be a lot more fun?

I mean, I know when I, because I have like a betting league each year where you just get a thousand points for a few hundred dollars, it starts to dry.

It really makes sports more interesting.

That's why I'm like, I can't dabble with this.

And so if you have a bunch of guys at an OTB and there's that, they'll bet on that.

They'll bet on it.

They'll bet on that.

Absolutely.

So, that's what the OJO is for.

I'm going to put a nine on a Frank on the

Cornhole Championship.

I mean, then you are sitting there just like, O'Neill needs to hit a better shuttlecock.

It's crazy.

You're just like, I don't know anything.

You call that a fucking astro, Bobby.

That's not how you fence.

Come on.

So, so yeah, he's betting a lot of fucking money.

2,000 here, 3,000 there, 10 G's on a game.

He's trying to make...

No way this guy can hold a downward dog that long.

He's trying to make, like you said, everything is interesting when you do that.

So at the ballpark, his career is crescendoing.

On September 11th, 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hit record with his 4,192nd hit.

At first base, the standing room-only crowd gave him a nine-minute nine-minute standing ovation.

Just sit down, would you?

It's too much for Pete, and he cracks.

He's actually showing a little vulnerability for the first time in his life, and he starts to cry.

And he's anxiously wiping away tears with his two-glove finger over his nose.

50-year-old Pete Jr., he's in the dugout.

He doesn't know what to do.

He'd never seen his dad like this.

And a player pushes him out and goes, go, get out there.

Beat him up.

Get out with your dad.

Kick your dad.

Try to take that.

Look how weak your dad is.

Put a fucking shoulder into that guy.

Come on, good lord.

And he runs to his father, and Pete hugs his son tight and tells him he loves him.

And Pete Jr.

went on to describe it: quote, I've never experienced that.

My first father-son moment.

Wow.

What just is he saying that sort of sentiment?

Like, he's

wow.

He's like, it was amazing.

It was the first time my dad was there for me.

And he did it because everyone was watching.

It was perfect.

It was the first time in his 15 years he remembers his dad hugging him.

What the fuck?

Fuck.

Later that season, in the middle of a game, Pete got another player's son to tell him exactly when the Kentucky Derby was starting so he, the manager of the team, could leave the game and watch.

That's the other part, too.

Ah, fuck.

I mean, Marge Schott being like at the helm of this.

I have a person who's like, oh, yeah, I'm going to go watch another sport because I'm gambling.

Yeah.

But it worked, probably, right?

I mean, it was like, as far as like attendance, it was probably helpful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Jesus Christ.

Yeah, I think we really do.

There is something, you know,

the infallibility of sports is so interesting because it's...

The way that we know these people are actually pieces of shit, but if they can perform, I mean, the NFL does it all the time where it's just like, you know, there's no interest in,

it's not even hiring a high character individual, like, which is like terminology they use, but it is just like

you just,

it allows people to be such fucking assholes.

Sports really, like, Ben Rothlessberger is like a,

he's

a rapist.

He's a rapist.

I mean, these are, Deshaun Watson was given a huge contract after committing sexual misconduct, I guess would be the lightest term for it.

I mean,

and and the reason that Sanders wasn't drafted in the fifth round was because he was entitled.

If he had been

a sexual assault, like a guy who drafted way above him, it's fine.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

They really, the line for

it is purely financial, financially based.

I mean, I remember when the Cowboys hired, I can't remember that dude's name, but he was like, he was, he was, if you see the

crime scene photos

of what he did to his wife.

It's crazy.

And that stuff still comes out.

Ray Rice is not in the NFL because of what he did.

It's because there was footage of what he did.

The NFL knew what he did.

They had the accounts.

It was all there.

And it wasn't until the footage got released that Ray Rice was cut from the NFL.

Yeah, I mean, like we said, you know, earlier, like early on in this, the first episode, they found that umpires were gambling.

There's no way they didn't have it on Rose.

There's no way they didn't know when he was hanging out with Terry Rubio that he was involved in some sort of gambling shoot.

They knew.

They had to have known.

And it really is like, it is on the consumer.

This is the same thing with like politics.

We expect the shitbags.

The shitbags are going to be the biggest shitbags, and they're going to put whatever shitbags we allow to be the shitbags.

As long as the thing is,

you have to at some point have some line where you just go, yeah, you know what?

I'm not going to do do this.

You can turn away from your team for a fucking year.

I did it.

Yeah.

The Deshaun Watson one was where I was like, fuck the Greg Hardy.

That was the guy's name who beat the shit out of his wife.

But I did it for a year where, and it was like, I really thought there were going to be more people who hit a break.

No point.

But they just don't.

Every year, some team cuts some player because he beat the shit out of his wife.

He, you know, did whatever, abusive in some manner, and some other team picks him up because that's allowed.

If the NFL just took one season and just said, we're not going to allow people who physically abuse significant others,

that would probably make it so that these people

at least considered what they were doing a little bit.

But when you create a world where they can do whatever the fuck they want, they will.

Yeah, I mean,

one of the biggest wide receivers, oh, God, what's his name?

The guy from Miami.

Oh,

yeah, yeah.

Tyreek Hill.

Yeah, he just got arrested for abusing domestic abuse, right?

You know, they just keep doing it.

Unless you tell them no or you don't vote with your wallet, you still just don't turn on the fucking, you cannot watch a game for a fucking time.

How's he going to get rid of it?

When you really look back at the Roffelsberger stuff, it was like

it is absolutely insane.

It's like he is at a bar, like having someone stand guard outside the bathroom while he's sexually assaulting a woman.

And he's still playing.

Netflix is about to do a FARV documentary.

It comes out soon.

Oh, shit.

Oh, yeah.

And it's fucking...

I mean, I don't have Netflix right now, but I mean, I already know a lot of it.

Like,

a lot of it is just, you know, it is.

It's like,

it's hard to confront it, but you have to just go like, yeah, you know what?

This fucking dude who was my, like...

gave me so much entertainment as a kid because he could throw a ball accurately.

Guess what?

He's actually not the best guy.

Ronaldo was

Ronaldo, was accused of sexual assault, and I didn't even know.

When he came back on the Manchester Night, I was like, hey, our guy's back.

And someone was like, yeah, he's a rapist.

I'm like, what?

Like, it was so, like, not a part of coverage here.

So you can't expect our society to start to balance out in any capacity if you have carve-outs for the people that we idolize doing the things we're supposed to vilify and letting them get away with it because the product is entertaining.

But there will be punishment for Pete Rose.

Sources: Charlie Hussele, The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and The Last Glory Days of Baseball by Keith O'Brien.

Charlie Hussell and the Matter of Pete Rose by Mark Monroe.

The Hit King, Pete Rose in Purgatory by Scott Rabb, Baseballreverence.com, and the research was done by Josh Androwski.

Good work, Josh, a boy.

There you go.

All right.

Hey, dollop fans.

I know you love the dollop.

You love listening to the dollop.

Do you want to watch the dollop?

You're like, Gareth, what are you talking about?

By the way, it's not Gary, it's Gareth.

Well, we have partnered with Lakeside Animation, and we are starting to animate some of our episodes.

So if you want to go watch a five-parter animation, which is actually like a 22-minute episode or 30-minute episode, I can't remember, of the Rube, you can go to Lakeside Animation on YouTube and watch a really awesome animation of The Rube.

It really genuinely kicks ass, and we're very proud of of it.

And the more you share it, the more you give it to people, the more you follow Lakeside, all that stuff, the better chance we have of making a lot more of them.

We're already making a second one, so go there and watch the Rube.

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