WHY I NEVER DRINK IN THE MORNING

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

This story has to do with the great baseball player Pete Rose who died Monday at age 83, never making the baseball Hall of Fame because of his off-field gambling activity. Though he would vehemently deny it much the way Donald Trump denies all his misdeeds, there was plenty of evidence that he had not only bet on baseball, but very likely had bet for and against the team he played for most of his career and during the time of his accusations was also managing, his hometown Cincinnati Reds. He holds many Major League Baseball records, most prominently total number of hits at 4256. The player whose record he broke, Ty Cobb, was probably much worse of a person, but Rose was declared ineligible for the Hall in 1989 because of his gambling (some say he was betting over $10000 a day) and so it remains.

In June of 1978, Rick and Ruby were guesting on an early morning radio show, and after the show were invited by the show’s host to join him for brunch. This particular brunch was at San Francisco’s legendary Fairmont Hotel, and featured champagne. It was about 9:00 in the morning and I should have known better. But the champagne went so well with the Eggs Benedict or whatever posh breakfast dish I was having that more than one glass went down. I wasn’t slobbering drunk but was clearly buzzed and bereft of any inhibitions.

As we were heading out of the Fairmont, there, seated in the lobby, was Pete Rose, as the Cincinnati Reds were in San Francisco to play two games against the Giants. There was something in his demeanour that said he was waiting to be recognised and/or fawned over. We happened to have tickets to both of the games in that series, so being emboldened by the champagne and slightly star struck by meeting one of the greatest players in the game at that time, I had my asshole control completely turned off. Our manager was with us at the time and had met Rose a few years before, so he began a conversation, but I felt a need to jump in and say “The Giants are going to kick Reds’ ass!” He very calmly responded, almost sounding as if this was a serious discussion. “Well I don’t know about that, we got (future Hall of Famer Tom) Seaver pitching tonight and (Bill) Bonham tomorrow.” I responded with the childish “So what? Giants have beaten those guys before!” He remained calm and said, “Well we’ll see.” Our manager moved us along as I was making a right fool of myself.

But our encounter wasn’t quite done. For some reason we had gone to talk to the radio host (sorry I can’t remember who it was), then had to walk by where Rose was seated again. By this time, he had gotten attention from a couple young boys who were asking for his autograph. He noticed me again and said something to the effect of “See, THESE kids like me!” I sort of laughed, realising I’d been a jerk, and said “We got tickets for tonight and tomorrow, and I’m sure you’re going to be as great as you usually are.” He smiled and turned back to the kids. My manager and my partner both lectured me on my behaviour on our way out, and I agreed that I’d been obnoxious, and was lucky Rose was relatively nice about the whole thing. That night, he nearly single-handedly beat The Giants, and I felt like I should take some of the blame. Small consolation was the Giants, who were in first place at the time, won the next night and stayed in first until September, when both the Reds and the LA Dodgers overtook them.

But a lesson was learned from that incident, and ever since, some 46 years later, I have never had any alcohol before the afternoon. Now I just gotta work on the rest of those hours!

October 1st, 2024



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