Pete Rose: One Hit Too Many

Many thanks to Bill Madden at the NY Daily News for his recent spicy and heartburn-ing "scoop" from Induction Weekend.  There's nothing quite like stirring the reliably toxic pot of Pete Rose's reinstatement efforts to sell a few more newspapers or generate some link hits (not included here).

Incidentally, it turns out the stove was never on and Madden's suppressed belch of a follow-up article left readers and baseball fans rubbing their chafed necks from yet another media chain-yank. 

I hope Hank Aaron has a better excuse than indigestion for using Induction Weekend as the arena for his petition.  The focus is supposed to be on ELIGIBLE players; c'mon Hammer, you're better than that.

Ok, ok, so I'm a bit late to the game on this one, but I prefer to think of it as getting the last word.  Now, as many a keyboard in cyberland recovers from another knee-jerk, impassioned beating (most for, some against reinstatement), it's time to let cooler heads prevail and examine the definitive reason for upholding and maintaining Rose's ineligibility.  There is only one.  And it is enough.

Pete Rose should not now, not ever be reinstated into Major League Baseball for the simple reason that no one is above The Game.  I'll pause here for dramatic effect.

Some call this "the integrity of the game".  I'll buy that, but to put it in less obtuse wording, it is about avoiding conflict of interest.  A player or manager should have no other interests weighing on the outcome of the game other than their pride and the salary they receive. 

Placing wagers on the outcome of a game as a member of that game violates that principle, and forever puts into question the legitimacy of the contest.  I know Rose said that he never bet against his own team, but that is hearsay and, even if true, still too slippery a slope.  Zero tolerance is the only course.

Every player that walks into a Major League clubhouse knows Rule 21(d), and every player knows the consequences for breaking that rule.  This is the Adam-and-Eve Rule—break it, and you're out.  Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200.  Thanks for playing, drive home safely.

Before the Bible-beaters start quoting me chapter and verse about redemption, forgiveness and The Four Horsemen, let me remind everyone this is not Heaven.  If Rose gets inducted at the pearly gates or has a catch in a cornfield, I can live with that. 

What I can't live with is exonerating a man who bet on baseball games by enshrining him with the game's highest earthly honor.

Look, I know the laundry list of stats, and I understand the nostalgia.  The smartest baseball guy I know still works in the baseball Hall Fame library in Cooperstown.  He is still a die-hard Reds fan and hit his prime around the same time as Rose.  His blog "Never Too Much Baseball" is great reading for any baseball nut, and he recently posted a terrific two-part series about the rise and fall of Rose. 

It's about as honest a portrayal of Rose as you'll find (probably more so than any of Rose's books).  He also adds the fascinating perspective of someone who spent years in Vegas as a poker dealer with the credibility to speak to the all-consuming ills of gambling.  It is only on the last sentence of his first post on which we disagree.

After reading these posts, I racked my brain to conjure some present-day analog for whom a similar fall would be equally traumatic to a fan of my generation.  The best I could think of would be if Ken Griffey, Junior had stayed healthy and broken Hank Aaron's record rather than Barry Bonds. 

Junior is probably the best example of a player loved for his consistent statistical firepower as much as for his infectious playing attitude.  To have his coronation as the Home Run King completely undermined and overwhelmed by a lifetime ban for gambling would have been beyond devastating.

But that pain cannot wipe out his choice.  As much as his fans want him to "say it ain't so", they must let Rose go the way of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the rest of the Black Sox, manifestations of the consequences of breaking Rule 21(d). 

There is no precedent for reinstatement, nor can there ever be. Rescinded once and before long pitchers will do their bullpen warm-ups on slot machines.  If people get squeamish about the absolute power of that rule, they should consider how much more they will be watching pitching changes.

Let's just say that last home run gave Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown some company in the nickname department.

So to Bud Selig and all his successors, I ask that they be boring.  Let the Bill Maddens have one story and then shrivel away.  Remember just six small words, and your legacy is secure: no one is above The Game.