Pete Rose Swears at Little Kids

Last week the US Army hosted a "Reds' Legends Baseball Camp" for kids in the Cincinnati area. Given the name and all, they invited a bunch of Reds' legends to come and talk to the collection of 7-to-14 year olds assembled. Apparently, they thought it was a good idea to invite Pete Rose to come talk. It wasn't.

"It was a complete embarrassment," said Staff Sgt. Steven Tischer, commander of the Colerain-Highland Ridge U.S. Army Recruiting Station that sponsored the baseball camp for 7- to 14-year-olds. "You don't swear in front of kids, that's just common sense. He dropped the F-bomb and the S-bomb. He told them winning is everything and if you get second place you're just losers."

I asked Tischer about Rose's July 26 visit after getting an e-mail from Renee Collins of Mason, who went to the camp with her son and some of his teammates.

"It was such a great week," she said. "My son goes to camps a lot and this was by far the best. It was so wonderful except for that one hour."

Now I don't mean to be critical, but what good could possibly come from inviting Pete Rose to speak at a baseball camp for kids? Yeah, yeah, Charlie Hustle and all that, I know. But the guy has a bit of a reputation for lying, gambling, and lots of other things that aren't good for a 7-to-14 year-old baseball camp. What did they think was going to happen?