Is that you, Pete?

 By Florida Bill

                            Is there any question but that Pete Rose is one of the all-time greats in baseball?    He has been to the top of the mountain, but the tumble down continues.  Will it ever stop?
                           I got to thinking about him the other day after I bumped into a headline on Facebook which announced that Rose "loses his mind on live television," while working as a color commentator and analyst on a sports station.  The story did not make much sense, and was just a lot of cynical drivel about a famous athlete. That will always command a headline somewhere.
                             Off the top of my head, there are three things I remember about Rose.  The first is that he had more hits as a major leaguer than any other player--ever.  Secondly, his baseball hat seemed to sit high atop a point on his head and there was always lots of hair jutting out from the back and sides.
                           And last, he made bets on games and has been permanently banned from baseball, and from membership in the Hall of Fame.                        
                            Rose's story is fascinating.  His association with baseball extended from 1963 to 1989, and for most of those years he was with the Cincinnati Reds as player and later as a manager.    No matter how you view it, Rose's performance in baseball is remarkable and by anyone's standards he accomplished everything to which an athlete could aspire.  He is revered by Cincinnati fans who have always applauded his dominance as a player and a manager.                        
                              In his first year in the big leagues,  Rose was rookie of the year and acquired the moniker, "Charlie Hustle."   The nickname  stayed with him through all of his 3,562 games, with 14,053 at bats and 4,256 base hits.  Those are records, as is his appearance in 17 All-Star games.  He stepped over even the incredible Ty Cobb with the number of hits he produced.
                               In the late 1980s, in response to rumors and accusations that Rose was betting on games, an investigation was ordered by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, which revealed proof of Rose's heavy betting on baseball between l985 and 1987.  Under oath, Rose denied wrong doing, but the evidence was irrefutable and doomed him.  As punishment, he was barred from association with baseball as "permanently ineligible."  In 1991, the Hall of Fame voted to exclude any individual in that category from consideration and induction as a member.  That order stands today, and Rose is the only living person on the "ineligible" list.                          
                               In 1990, he got into hot water with the IRS and ultimately pled guilty to income tax evasion  and served five months in a penitentiary in Marion, Illinois.  But his aggressive swagger remained and he continued to persist in assertions that he had never made bets on baseball games.   His many requests for reinstatement were ignored by Giamatti and his successor Bud Selig          
                                Finally in 2004, in a book he authored, Rose fessed up and acknowledged his gambling addiction, but said that he never bet against the Cincinnati Reds, his own team, which at that time he was managing.  At one point Rose discussed his affection for his teammates and the activity which destroyed his public persona: "I am a competitive guy and I like these guys," he said. "They're like my sons, and I bet on them.  I shouldn't have done it.  But I did it and it's history and there is nothing you can do to change it."
                                Today after 25 years of having been ostracized from any association with baseball, the 74-year old one-time face and heart of Cincinnati, is again seeking reinstatement as a part of America's Grand Old Game.  He asks the  new Commissioner Rob Manfred to look with mercy upon his indiscretions, and forgive him.  Manfred has said that he will take a fresh look at the Pete Rose situation,  and there are indications that he will make a decision by the close of 2015.  Meanwhile, Rose, living in the Las Vegas area, busies himself selling autographs and memorabilia and is said to be financially secure.
                                  The Ohio Senate has adopted a resolution calling for Rose's reinstatement and and for his name to be placed on the Hall of Fame ballot and put to a vote by the Baseball Writers  Association of America.
                                   The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is a place for the best players in the game, but it is in no way a Hall of Saints.   The Hall of Fame elected its first five members in 1936: Ty  Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson and Babe Ruth.  These five were great baseball players, but it is doubtful that Cobb and the Babe would ever make it on a church's list for canonization.
                                 It is true that Rose is brash and not a man of humility.  He broke a sacred baseball rule, and it wasn't one that was hidden away in small print somewhere. But he recognizes that he was wrong in what he did, and Father Time is not on his side. His greatness as a ballplayer cannot be disputed.  America is a good and forgiving nation and loves a good story of redemption.  Could it be that Baseball is ready to pull in its sharp sword?


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