R.I.P. Pete Rose

My breakthrough 1989 reporting about Rose's secret gambling life might be a good alternative for anyone skipping the VP debate )

Long time Just the Facts subscribers know I do not stick to one topic. One week you might get something about the JFK assassination, then a missive about Big Pharma, maybe the dangers of puberty blockers or a new wrinkle with OxyContin and the Sacklers, or the assault on freedom of speech, October 7 denialism, maybe even how immigrant criminal syndcates have made Sweden a “gangland paradise.” Sometimes the topics are on the news radar and other times offer a break from the onslaught of whatever is trending. This Just the Facts is a break prompted by the death on Monday of baseball’s all time hit champion, Pete Rose.

In August 1989—the month that baseball barred Rose from the sport at which he excelled—I landed an exclusive series of interviews with Paul Janszen, one of Rose’s closed friends in the few years leading up to the explosive charges about Rose’s gambling problems. I did months of reporting that went beyond Janszen’s account to uncover a disturbing account of Rose having l…