i'm a generally forgiving person, although i'm sure there are people that are more forgiving than i am. i truly respect a person's ability to make a mistake, and then to own up to that mistake and apologize for it.

of course, the subject is pete rose.

and the answer is that he shouldn't be reinstated to the game and that he shouldn't be eligible for the hall of fame.

consider the man's transgressions:
- he violated the most important rule that exists in baseball, the rule that (along with babe ruth) kept major league baseball afloat [scale of badness, from 1-10: 4]
- he lied about it for 14 years [8]
- for those same 14 years, he attacked the credibility of john dowd, the man who very carefully investigated the allegations against pete rose, and very clearly told no lies about pete rose. by all accounts, except for those of rose himself, dowd is an honorable, good person [5]
- he is very clearly admitting his guilt only for personal gain [10]
- in admitting his guilt only for personal gain, he's also overshadowing the second-greatest professional day in the lifetimes of two very deserving men, paul molitor and dennis eckersley [8]
- he's very clearly and very calculatedly admitting his guilt at this time to capitalize on the fact that molitor and eckersley are receiving their admissions into the hall of fame, under the assumption that, for rose, the best time to rise to prominence is when the hall of fame is on the mind of baseball fans [9]

pretty much, rose is a despicable and dishonorable man, and his admission into the hall of fame will do only harm to the hall.

to think that he had so many opportunities to come clean, and instead he acted like he was the one who was wronged.

to think that he has the audacity to call his autobiography my prison without walls. (i'm not buying, by the way.) he's the victim, apparently.

espn did a fairly good special report this afternoon regarding the situation, and the statements of fay vincent, deputy commissioner when rose was banned for life, were the most interesting. vincent stated that the deterrent of the anti-gambling policy was so strong that nobody would ever mess with it. he told of lenny dykstra being 'scared to death' of the policy.

vincent also stated that he believes that rose's admission doesn't reveal the whole truth, and that he fully believes that rose was gambling on the game while still playing. he named a baseball writer who claimed to have seen such things going on. (note: whether or not rose gambled while playing doesn't change my stance on him. he's a piece of trash, and deserves no part in the game.)

i think the most perfect summation of the person rose is, and of rose's entire motivation was stated by mr. rose himself, this summer, on espn's sunday night conversation. rose said: "it doesn't do you a darned bit of good to go into the hall of fame after you are dead."

clearly, the man's playing days warrant admission to the hall. clearly, the player's lack of any morality dictates that he should not be allowed in. the solution: admit him when he's dead.




(by the way, while rose is widely regarded as one of the top ten or so players of all time, molitor's numbers are clearly better - across the board, on a per-season basis - than rose's. don't believe me? give 'em a look. in similar career lengths, molitor outdoes rose in almost every category, when you take stats on a per-162 games basis. batting average: .306 to .303. runs scored: 108 to 98. hits: 200 to 194. doubles, triples, homers: 37-34, 7-6, 14-7. RBI: 79-60. stolen bases: 30 to 9. slugging: .448-.409. rose's only edges lie in walks (71-66), strikeouts (52-75), and on-base percentage (.375-.369).

the differences aren't major, but they certainly support molitor over rose.

argue, as rose does, that he was 'the winningest player in the history of sports,' and i'll ask you to compare joe morgan, frank robinson, johnny bench, etc., etc., etc. to robin yount, cecil cooper and ben oglivie.

also, molitor is one of the classiest people i've ever had the good fortune to meet. forthcoming. respectful. he raised $500,000 to keep baseball in small-town burlington, iowa, in 1995. he gave me, a rambling, idiotic 23-year-old, 10 minutes one day and 5 minutes three days later to interview him. he's classy. generous. friendly. he asks fans their name so that he can personalize his autographs. he's just super. the absolute archetype of what a hall of famer should be.

rose, well, he's slimy.)

missive over.