Charlie Samuels Should Have Learned From Charlie Hustle
In 1989 Pete Rose, the all time leader in hits and a sure thing first ballot Hall of Famer, was was banned from baseball (including induction to the Hall) for gambling. Six years earlier Charlie Samuels became the Mets clubhouse manager.
Twenty one years after the Rose ban Samuels was suspended from his position with the Mets without pay for his alleged involvement in an illegal gambling scheme that could ultimately cost him his job.
The Samuels situation is very different than the Rose situation in that baseball is not involved in the Samuels case. According to the Michael S. Schmidt in a post on the New York Times Bats blog the Samuels investigation is centered on football. But one can’t help but feel that people in and around the game should learn from the Rose example and stay away from all kinds of illegal gambling operations to stay safe from the fallout that inevitably comes from it.
Samuels is not the first to be caught in this type of investigation since the Rose ban. He’s not even the first within the Mets organization. I don’t mean to sound too strong about him specifically. My criticism is aimed at all baseball related people who should heed the warning of what happened to Rose. Especially those who were in the game when it happened. When a tree falls in your backyard whether you hear it or not you’re going to be more careful around trees.
I hope that Samuels, who from what I’ve heard is a good guy, is cleared of any wrong doing and is reinstated by the Mets. If he isn’t then he has only himself to blame for not learning from history.
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I grow up with Charlie he was always a hustler and he has lied and screwed a lot of people in his life.