Randy Smith: What "Charlie Hustle" Deserves

  • Wednesday, March 18, 2015
  • Randy Smith
Randy Smith
Randy Smith

In 1963 at a spring training game in Fort Lauderdale, FL, a rookie second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds drew a walk against the New York Yankees. Rather than actually walk or even jog down to first base, the rookie chose to run full speed as if he were trying to run out an infield hit. That prompted Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle to ask, "Who's that? Charlie Hustle?"

Thus, the nickname "Charlie Hustle" has stood ever since in baseball lore, to describe the play of Pete Rose. Rose would go on to win the National League Rookie of the Year award in 1963 and within a few years would lead the "Big Red Machine" to the top of the baseball world.

He would also claim 4,256 career base hits; more than any other player in history. 

Not all of Rose's accomplishments were of such a positive nature. In 1989, he was banished from baseball for betting on baseball games; the most unforgivable sin there is in the game. That's bad enough for a player, but Rose did it while managing the Cincinnati Reds. Though he initially denied betting on games, he finally admitted it in 2004. He also admitted betting on his own team, but never against the Reds. He remains banished from baseball to this day, and is also absent from the Hall of Fame.

It's truly sad to think that baseball's all-time hit king as well as the home run king (Barry Bonds) are not in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Bonds cheated by using illegal growth hormones and PEDs to bulk up and break not only Mark McGwire's single season home run mark, (McGwire cheated too) but Henry Aaron's all-time home run record. Rose on the other hand, supposedly did nothing underhanded as a player, but bet on ball games as a manager. Betting on games and trying to "fix" the outcome almost killed baseball with the "Black Sox" scandal in 1919.  No one has ever come forth and accused Pete Rose of trying to "fix" games when he was managing the Reds, but when he admitted his betting in 2004, all the allegations against him were supported.

As a manager alone, Rose would never make the Hall of Fame. His claim to baseball immortality came as one of the hardest working, hard-nosed players the game has ever seen. He is one of the all-time greats and yes, he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. What Pete Rose did later in life after he retired as a player, is considerably less than Ty Cobb; the "Georgia Peach" who admitted to killing a man once, and was a documented racist. Yet Ty Cobb is in the Hall of Fame, and Rose is on the outside looking in. Babe Ruth the greatest player in the history of the game was a womanizer and an alcoholic, as was Mickey Mantle. Both are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

It's time we wiped away the dust on the Pete Rose situation. He has paid dearly for the sins he committed against the game, and now should be allowed back in the game he so dearly loves. Baseball has a new commissioner, as Rob Manfred took over when Bud Selig stepped down in January. I have some great advice for you Mr. Commissioner: reinstate Pete Rose to baseball and allow him to be on the next Hall of Fame ballot. That's the very least that "Charlie Hustle" deserves. 

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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. He is currently teaching Broadcasting at Coahulla Creek High School near Dalton, Ga.

His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.

He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.

In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have four grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, DellaMae and CoraLee.

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