[Originally published on my baseball blog on July 30, 2009]
We have just had inductions to the Hall of Fame and the ritual would not be complete without a mention of Pete Rose.
ROSE SHOULD BE IN THE HALL OF FAME. Yeah, he bet in baseball, but unlike the 1919 Black Sox, there is no evidence that he bet against himself or his team or otherwise did anything to throw a game.
Of course, it would have been better if he hadn't gambled at all. Now he's just a parody of himself hawking whatever he can sell. But I wonder if his ban hasn't been lifted because of his attitude rather than his misdeeds. And if so, MLB should look itself in the mirror about its own attitude toward gambling. It's a lot different from the days when Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were suspended from involvement in baseball because of their PR jobs with casinos that involved things like playing golf with the high rollers. Now you can go to Chase Field and watch the players drape themselves over the dugout fence that has VeeQuiva Casino written all over it.
Either Baseball gets the casino names out of its stadiums or it lets Pete Rose back in. I prefer the latter considering the Hall is full of reprobates who have done far worse things than waste money gambling.
Monday, October 19, 2009
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