My Prison Without Bars

My Prison without Bars

Pete Rose was one of baseball’s all time greats. Rose, the all time MLB leader in games played, at bats, outs and a record most saw to believe as an un-reachable achievement, the all time hits record shattered by Rose at an astounding 4,256 hits. He won three World Series, three batting titles and a coveted MVP award. He received two gold gloves and was also selected to play in 17 different All-Star games. Rose is one of the most consistent players in all of sports history. His amazing skill on the field at five different positions, with a great eye for hitting, is overshadowed by scandalous activity throughout his career.

My Prison without Bars, written by Pete Rose, explains his excessive gambling problem through the 24 years he served in the majors as a player and manager. Rose being suspended from the MLB in 1989 due to allegations of gambling on baseball only heated the water for was what to come. Being suspended from the league by breaking “Rule 21”, stating “Any employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible”(MLB Regulations). This not only ended his coaching career it also completely removed him from having a chance of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Rose had interviews on television shows such as 60 Minutes where he straight faced lied to the camera and all the viewers watching and listening. His only actual confession was through his words in his story! In his book he claims, “I should have had the opportunity to get help, but baseball had no fancy rehab for gamblers like they do for drug addicts. If I had admitted my guilt, it would have been the same as putting my head on the chopping block -- lifetime ban. Death penalty. I spent my entire life on the baseball fields of America, and I was not going to give up my profession without first seeing some hard evidence. I just kept telling myself that permanently is a long goddam time. Right, wrong, the punishment didn't fit the crime -- so I denied the crime"(Rose322).

Rose, still to this day, believes that he should have a shot for the Hall of Fame and believes he was treated unfairly. In an interview with sports illustrated he said, “If I had been an alcoholic or a drug addict, baseball would have suspended me for six weeks and paid for my rehabilitation. The distinction between drugs, booze and gambling told me that baseball was interested in punishment, not treatment.”(SI issue Jan 5, 2004).

This book by Pete Rose, written in our Post Modern Literary Era, shows and teaches us about loving something you do and falling astray from it by an uncontrollable bad habit. I believe that many folks who read this book can relate in some way to an addiction of some sort that endangers a person’s well-being. This habit doesn’t necessarily have to be gambling or drugs, it can be an eating disorder, a money spending problem, a steroid problem, etc, all of which have a negative outcome to one’s life. In Rose’s case, he had a lot to loose and he lost a great part of it. He ruined the one thing that he loved to do by not being able to control something that he was addicted to. This book shows that thing’s aren’t always black and white and that the punishment doesn’t always seem to fit the crime. As Rose stated, if he had a drinking or drug problem, he would go to rehab and still be a hero. Having a gambling problem just made him come out looking bad with no help or rehab offered by the league.

Information Sources: Rose, Pete, and Rick Hill. My Prison without Bars. [Emmaus, Pa.]: Rodale, 2004. Print.

Selig, Bud. "SI.com - Magazine - Rose: I Bet on Baseball - Monday January 5, 2004 2:54PM." Breaking News, Real-time Scores and Daily Analysis from Sports Illustrated – SI.com. 5 Jan. 2004. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. .Print.

Picture Source: Bull, Gregory. My Prison Without Bars. Photograph. INHISTORIC, Cincinnati