Volume 2 , Number 10
Nov , 1997
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Reinstate Pete Rose, Dammit!
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by The Professor |
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Let's talk about Pete Rose.
Pete Rose was recently in the news again, this time for sending
a letter to Interim-Commissioner-for-Life Bud Selig asking that
his lifetime ban be lifted and that he be allowed to return to
baseball. Selig gave the request all of about 0.4 seconds of
consideration before refusing Rose's offer, citing the damage
Pete Rose has inflicted on the game of baseball.
Now, let's recap the situation. In 1989 Pete Rose was accused
of a number of rules violations by then-Commissioner Bart
Giamatti. Among them were the allegations that he gambled
compulsively on a wide variety of sports including college
football, pro football, golf, etc, and that he bet on major
league baseball games in general and his own team, the
Cincinnati Reds, in particular during the time that he was
managing that team.
Also at that time, Rose was under investigation by the IRS for
failure to report income from his gambling winnings and from
autograph signings. Facing damaging investigations from both
Major League Baseball and the IRS, Rose decided to cut his
losses and cut a deal with Giamatti. Rose would resign as
manager of the Reds and accept a lifetime ban from baseball in
return for an official non-finding of guilt from Major League
Baseball. Rose would then be eligible to petition for
reinstatement after one year. The deal was signed, Rose
accepted his banishment and went on to serve a 5-month jail
sentence for tax violations.
But then a funny thing happened. Giamatti screwed Rose over.
He did this by stating publicly, to a battery of reporters,
that Rose bet on baseball, even though he had signed an agreement
stating that no such finding had ever been reached. With just
a few words to the national media Giamatti had convicted him
in the only courtroom that ever really mattered to Rose: The
court of public opinion. Pete Rose, the all-time base hits
leader, the man known as Charlie Hustle, was now Pete Rose, the
man who tarnished the game of baseball by betting on his own team.
But Rose accepted his punishment. He served out his jail term
and languished silently in exile, biding his time until he was
ready to apply for reinstatement. He sold off many of his prized
belongings and hawked his autographs on the Home Shopping Network
to pay his legal bills. He was derided for this, of course, accused
of being tasteless and money-hungry. But the bills had to be paid,
and the only thing he had left with any market value was his
signature, so what would you have done?
Now, eight years later, fully seven years after he became eligible
for reinstatement, he has finally done what many of his fans have
urged him to do all along. And after all that time, after serving
what amounted to an eight year suspension for a first-time gambling
offense, his petition was summarily dismissed on the grounds that
the scars Rose inflicted on baseball are too deep, too ugly, too
damaging to be forgiven so easily.
This from Bud Selig. This from the man who was the driving force
behind the overthrow of the Commissioner's office, engineered a
player strike which interrupted two baseball seasons and wiped out
a World Series, and is currently pushing for a radical realignment
which will render the landscape of Major League Baseball
unrecognizable heading into the next century. This from the man who
has been the most disruptive element to affect professional sports
since World War II. Adolph Hitler didn't cause us to lose a single
pitch of a single World Series game, but Bud Selig did. This is the
man who says that Pete Rose, one of the most beloved and idolized
players of his generation, is unfit to be included in the family
that is professional baseball.
This makes the Professor sick to his stomach.
At the risk of treading on Commissioner Selig's over-blown ego, I
would submit to you that on no playing field, in no small town in
America, has there ever been a child who stood at the plate, faced
an imaginary pitcher, hit an imaginary home run, circled the imaginary
base paths before an imaginary crowd and said "Look at me! I'm Bud
Selig!" Nor, on the day Pete Rose was banished, do I for a minute
believe that even one little boy dropped his glove and marched off
the field in disgust, never to return.
True, many of Rose's fans may have lost some measure of respect for
him as a person, but his accomplishments on the field were and are no
less revered. Pete Rose the idol may have been replaced in the eyes of
many by the Ken Griffeys and Mike Piazzas of the current day, but to
this day when a player legs out an infield single or dives headlong
into third base, who does not think, even for a moment, of Charlie
Hustle?
Rose's transgressions were sad. They were regrettable. They were
punishable. But they were not unforgivable, or at least no more so
than those committed by the drug abusers and wife beaters who baseball
always seems to find a way to let back into the game so long as they
have talents that can be exploited. Pete Rose hurt baseball for only
a few brief moments and is ready to start helping again. Bud Selig,
on the other hand, has done nothing to help baseball and in fact
continues to harm baseball with every mindless, blundering move he
makes.
You want the Professor's advice? Bring back Pete and ban Bud for
life.