madbaker | baseball rant

I've succumbed to the holiday cruds, which may have some bearing on my crankiness right now...

Pete Rose, having spent 14 years steadfastly denying that he bet on baseball as a player/manager ("All I can say to my fans is I did not do it.") is now admitting that he did so.

He remains hugely popular among baseball fans, many of whom would like to see his ban from the game rescinded and subsequent admission to the Hall of Fame.

I say: Phooey.

I heard a commentator last night opine that "Cooperstown needs to clarify why betting on baseball is wrong." Hello! Black Sox scandal of 1919 ring any bells? The Chicago White Sox threw the World Series that year. Shoeless Joe Jackson still isn't in the Hall!

Pete Rose was a player and manager and thus was in a prime position to throw a game based on a bet. He claims he never bet against the Reds. He's lied for over 14 years about the base issue - what makes this claim any more believable?

Those who say that betting aside, he belongs in the Hall for his record number of hits - well, there's a better argument there. Many players in the Hall are not upstanding citizens. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds are all locks and at least one of the three was juiced on illegal 'roids.

I say: Phooey.
Let him rot in baseball purgatory. If Shoeless Joe is rehabilitated, then let Rose in after his own wait of 85 years.