My Take On Rose

Every so often, the Pete Rose issue flares up: should he be reinstated, should he be in the Hall of Fame, should he shut up and go away... and so on. The short answers to each question are no, yes, and please dear God YES.

Plenty have said it better than I ever can, but the question of Rose's reinstatement comes down to one fact: if you are in baseball, you do not bet on baseball. The rule really is phrased that simply. Betting on your own team is even more a no-no, carrying with it the threat of lifetime banishment from the sport. Everyone knows it.

You may believe that Rose never bet on baseball. I think you're wrong. Try actually reading the entire Dowd Report; there's compelling stuff in there. Dowd is a stand-up guy, and sticks by the report. Rose agreed to his lifetime ban so that Giamatti wouldn't investigate further; the damage was already done. Rose knew it, and wanted to cut his losses. I sincerely believe that Pete Rose's lifetime ban on baseball is the proper punishment.

His enshrinement in the Hall of Fame is a completely different matter. The decision by the Hall of Fame to restrict those banned from baseball from entry to the Hall came only after Rose agreed to his ban. So perhaps the case could be made that he wouldn't have signed the agreement if he knew he wouldn't be allowed into the Hall. Either way, the Hall of Fame honors the accomplishments of an individual on the ballfield, not in life. Otherwise Ty Cobb, one of the greatest hitters of all time and worst human beings to play the game wouldn't be in the Hall. Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.

Why should Pete Rose shut up? Because he's annoying me. All he does is whine how he was wronged, or that his ban is a terrible injustice, or that the integrity of the Hall is compromised as long as he's not in it. Pete, you made your bed. Sleep in it and shut up.

So ideally, Rose's ban from baseball would continue and the Hall's board would allow him to be on the ballot. Chances are, he'd be overwhelmingly elected on his first ballot, have a tremendous induction ceremony, and then fade away. What is more likely is that the spineless Bud Selig will cave to the demands of an idiot public who feels that all sports heroes should get eleventy billion chances to prove that they're decent people and remove his ban altogether. Within a few years, we'd have a compulsive gambler managing a major league team, further destroying the integrity of the game that I love.

December 12, 2002 - 02:52 PM

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