Never liked him as a player when I was a kid and was in love with all things baseball. I don’t really know why? I just wasn’t into the Charlie Hustle crap, I guess. I liked some of the Reds, especially Concepcion and Bench. I liked other players who were not saints, like Richie Allen, Dave Parker and Steve Garvey to name a few. Just something about Pete always rubbed me the wrong way.
As an adult I have complete appreciation for how great Pete was at baseball. Played any position his teams needed him…second base, outfield, third base, first base…and played all of them at an all star level. Pete was a baseball savant.
As an adult I also realize Pete was, and still is, a scumbag. He just is. Complete white trash. He should be in the HOF, but he violated the one rule of the game that is not ever allowed to be violated. He will never be in the HOF because of it and it will gnaw at him until the day he dies.