A Rose by any other name

January 10, 2004

Rabbi Gary S. Creditor 

Despite the fact that I am more than forty pounds over my playing weight, and I retired over two and a half decades ago, after homework and Hebrew School, I played baseball. When I was growing up, every kid wanted a colored shirt with a number, a well-worn mitt, and a place on the diamond. Baseball cards were 5 for a quarter with a thick slab of gum, and we studied each card as much as our books. The rarest cards were the greatest heroes. I hand and still have a great mitt. Until my mother threw them out, I had two shoeboxes of cards, which now would be worth a mint. And I played third base. And we all looked up to a guy called "Charlie Hustle." There were greater players in that era, but the verve and abandon with which he played, caught the imagination of every kid who ever picked up a bat and ball.

I remember listening with great regret and sorrow in 1989 as then Commissioner Bart Giamatti suspended Pete Rose from baseball for life. I doubt that he will ever be in organized baseball again. And he shouldn't. The man who broke the legendary Ty Cobb's record for most hits now will have another indelible record, and despite his bravado, is now broken. I agreed entirely then with the punishment and do so now. I believe that there is no justification for changing that and continue to believe that he should not be elected into the Hall of Fame. While his exploits on the field cannot and should not be removed from the record books, the shrine in Cooperstown is not the "Hall of Record Holders," but rather "The Hall of Fame." When I visited there, as every baseball aficionado must, and walked through the halls, I touched history, people, and life itself. Enshrined in its cases are hard work, dedication, teamwork, and honor. While not every person elected was a "good guy," I don't believe that they should elect a bad guy. And Pete Rose is a bad guy.

That Pete Rose is a bad guy depends on how you view gambling, the role of public figures, and what is the essence of baseball. I am going to answer all those questions by referring to the Mishna, the Talmud, and one verse from this morning's Torah portion. Embedded in the tragedy of Pete Rose, are many lessons for our own lives.

The Mishna in the Tractates of Sanhedrin (3:3) and Rosh Hashanah (1:8) both record the following:

"The following are posul, "treif," and thus ineligible to give testimony or be a judge: a dice player, a usurer, a pigeon racer, and a trafficker in Sabbatical produce."

Our focus is on the dice player, "ha-misachek b'kubiyiah." During the Roman, early Rabbinic period, there were many Atlantic Cities of their day. The rabbis knew about gamblers. Just the trip was shorter. This person was barred from testimony in court cases, in testifying as to the new month, and from being a judge. The Talmud amplifies this decision, codified by Rabbi Judah, in a discussion between Rami bar Hama and Rabbi Sheshet. The first rabbi says that the gambler is disqualified because he is a thief. According to Jewish law, the winner of a bet has no legal claim upon the loser, so if he takes his winnings, he is really stealing. The exchange of money could only be as payment for services or goods, or as a present. Being neither, the winner of the bet, is a ganaf, when he collects the bet. Most commentators and codifiers of Jewish law reject this opinion. On the other hand, Rabbi Sheshet's opinion is that a gambler is disqualified because he plays no part in the betterment of society, "b'vishuvo shel ha-olam." What does this mean? Our scholars explained that a gambler who lives by his winnings, and who is otherwise not gainfully employed, doesn't appreciate how hard it is for a person to earn money, has dedicated his life to winning at any cost, and thus will purposefully and easily lie and cheat. This person is a gazlan and a ganaf because by the act of cheating he is stealing. Now the rabbis are sure to say, this is not the case of a simple thief-in-the-night, and perhaps it is not even stealing according to the Torah's strict definition. After all, the bettor is usually a willful participant. So, the rabbis say, while it might not be stealing by the strict definition, it is "Avak gezel," it is the "dust of stealing," it is the "suspicion of stealing," it "smacks of it," it's "the next best thing." All activities of Avak gezel are prohibited by Rabbinic injunction, and the Shulchan Aruch, in the section of Choshen Mishpat, codifies it specifically.

My remarks should not be taken out of context and applied to bingo, an occasional card game or mah jong, buying a lottery ticket, or even the occasional visit to OTB. The rabbis attempt to distinguish between the habitual and the occasional, recreational behavior. Everyone has sometime or other came to the bottom line of an argument and said: "Wanna make a bet?" Everyone who has played basketball or pool has said: "Betcha can't make that shot!"

We've all made a friendly wager. The difference is that it didn't consume us; we maintained our moral balance and ethical integrity; we didn't become liars or cheaters because we won or lost the bet. The occasional bettor was not barred from testifying, and was not labeled a moral delinquent. It was the habitual gambler whose morality was corrupted by the game, who you couldn't trust in what he says and what he does. This person lost his integrity, jeopardized his honor, and eroded his character. This is the person who couldn't give testimony nor receive it. He couldn't judge others and was a poor judge about himself. This is the "misachek b'kubiyiah," prohibited by Jewish law.

And that's why Pete Rose had to be banned from baseball. And that ban should be permanent. Forever.

Baseball is a game, where skill, knowledge, and teamwork are blended to hit a ball, throw a ball, and catch a ball. Abner Doubleday, or whoever invented this game, did not envision 50,00 meshugenas making waves around concrete temples, with multi-million dollar contracts, and exploding "Big Apples." It was to be a rustic, idyllic game, played on a sunny afternoon. The players wore uniforms, and the umpires wore top hats. In order for the game to be fair, in this land of equal opportunity, there were rules to insure honesty and integrity, the basic values of a just society, the very ones that Commissioner Giamatti cited in his remarks. This is so important because baseball is, on one hand, the microcosm of the world, and on the other, the focus of the world. The players and managers of baseball encapsulate all the good and all the bad. We have heroes and goats, promotions and demotions, agony and ecstasy. Things are fair or foul. The people of baseball are always larger than life; from The Straw (Daryl Strawberry), to The Kid (Gary Carter), to Charlie Hustle. Whether we are kids or kids-at-heart, we look up to them, fantasize of the catch we could have made, the homer we could have hit, and the player we could have been. I don't want our children looking up to Pete Rose. He destroyed his family. He destroyed his integrity, his honor, and he betrayed his team. He squandered riches that could have done great tzedakah; or he could have been a model for helping handicapped children, raised funds for United Way, cared for his own kids, and loved his wife with respect and integrity. Indeed, his behavior in betting on baseball was evident throughout all the aspects of his life. That's exactly what the rabbis expected would happen. I would rather we and our children read about the tragedy of Pete Rose, and know that there is more to life than just "Charlie Hustle."

I believe that we and our children need to understand that not everything has a remedy. Some things can be fixed. Others cannot. While Pete Rose has made an excellent living by harking products on television, earning him, I'm sure a lot of money, there is no remedy for his besmirching the reputations and names of so many people and wave it away by just saying "So I lied for fourteen years. Buy my book for $25." That chutzpah must not be rewarded.

All of this is found in one short verse of Torah. Moses says to Israel:

"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse."

Baseball can be a blessing and a curse. It depends on how you play the game, and the perspective that you have about live and its values. We have to choose wisely and use things carefully. We must remember that we have the power to make blessings out of curses out of blessings. Let us learn from this sorry episode, so that we will live lives filled with honesty, integrity, filled with happiness and purpose, up to the brim.

Amen