by Amaury Pi Gonzalez
photo sportsillustrated.cnn.com of former Cincinnati Red Pete Rose
Pete Rose is 74 years old, won three World Series, was selected to 17 All-Star Games, and finished with 4,256 hits, more than anybody in history. Today Commissioner Fred Manfred upheld the lifetime ban on Pete Rose, who will eventually die and never be inducted in Cooperstown. Does that mean that guys like Barry Bonds , Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafeal Palmeiro and Roger Clemens (among others of the steroids era) will also be banned?
I believe in forgiveness, and Rose paid his due to society for a quarter of a century, but obviously Major League Baseball doesn’t believe in forgiveness in a country that is mostly guided by Judeo-Christian principles. According to the New York Times article today, it was reported that Mr. Manfred said Mr. Rose informed him at the September meeting that he continues to bet on baseball, which he can legally do in Las Vegas, where he lives. That disclosure clearly concerned Mr. Manfred, as did what he described as Mr. Rose’s inability, at the meeting, to admit that he not only bet on games as a manager but also as a player. Obviously betting on baseball is the cardinal sin, for the game that is called The National Pastime.
In my book if you bet on the game, while you are a player or a manager, and they banned you for life to ever be in the Hall of Fame, then you should also be banned for life if you took illicit drugs during your playing career. So the argument will be: what is worse, betting on the games while you played and/or managed, or using drugs like steroids while you play? In one case (betting) you can fix the game to your advantage, or in the other case if you took steroids this helped you (as an individual) hitting the ball further than without the substance. Both ways is cheating in the game.
When Mr. Rose was first banned from the game, he insisted he had not bet on baseball, although in accepting the ban he implicitly acknowledged wrongdoing on his part. In his prime Pete Rose made, $1 (one) million per year. Today a rookie’s salary is $500,000 per year. Pete could not pay the attorney’s fees that today’s superstar players can and he could not defend himself from his accusers like today’s very wealthy players. The players accused of using steroids hired some of the best attorneys in the country, and we all know when you have good attorneys, you can always beat City Hall. Best example, O.J Simpson, who killed two people and the walked free, but then his own ego and stupidity landed him in prison where he is today and where he will probably die.
If you witnessed Pete Rose playing days, you have to agree that he is a Hall of Fame player. In my opinion Pete Rose belongs in Cooperstown in the Hall of Fame of Baseball, not the Hall of Saints of Baseball.
That is just my opinion, I hope you agree, but if you do not, I also respect you.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for the Angels and the Spanish voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
