Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 12, 2002
More on Rose:

Robert Saunders e-mails me, and nails the Rose situation:


But Rose's situation is positively Heller-ean: it's against the rules to bet on baseball, and if you do you can't go to the HOF; so, Bart Giammati asks Rose to sign a document in which he doesn't admit to betting on baseball, in exchange for which Rose can't get into the HOF; now, to get into the HOF, he has to admit that he bet on baseball, which I believe is still against the rules!

If he didn't bet on baseball, let him in. If he did bet on baseball, I don't care how great he was, he's OUT! That's what makes his story a lesson for young players and a tragedy to people who were his fans (not me). If Madame Bovary doesn't commit suicide, it's not a tragedy, it's a Julia Roberts movie!


The catch-22 is exactly right. If Rose bet on baseball, he broke the rules and the ban should stay in place. If he didn't bet on baseball, then he's probably paid the price for consorting with gamblers. If Rose had done something to change his life, given back to the community some way, I'd be more amenable to his returning.

As to the idea that Rose would be put back in charge of the Reds; ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know who's brilliant idea that is, but Rose should not be allowed near young players in a position of power. I remember being with BBTN at Disney in 1998. We were in the green room, and Ray Knight was talking about Pete Rose, and how good Pete was to him (and others) as rookies. It reminded me of the Bill James essay on Hal Chase. Chase would be nice to the new kids, while the other veterans just ignored them. Later, Chase would ask the kids for favors involving throwing games. I doubt Rose ever fixed games, but I bet Pete got the kids to look the other way when Rose would commit some other transgression.

I hope this is just a lot of speculation. The one area of agreement I've had with Selig is Pete Rose. For Pete to get back in, he's going to have to do a lot better job of apologizing than Trent Lott has.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:26 PM | Baseball