Posted By:
Kenny ColeI have little sympathy for Pete Rose. It isn't baseball's fault that Rose bet on baseball, it is Pete Rose's fault that he bet on baseball. Nor is it baseball's fault that Pete Rose lied about betting on baseball for 15 years or so; again, that would be something that must be placed at Pete's feet.
While I am generally not a huge fan of the Comissioner, the owners, or baseball management (nor of the Player's Union for that matter), in this case I agree 100% with the decision to ban Rose and hope that he is never reinstated during his lifetime. If you want to say he's sick, fine. Get him treatment and cure him. Baseball can even forgive him for being a scumbag if it wants to.
However, forgiving Rose for being the POS he is doesn't also have to mean that he needs to be reinstated or elected to the HOF. In that regard, I can admire the way he played on the field without admiring him and without feeling that his exclusion from the HOF is anything other than completely justified.
Pete Rose is all about Pete Rose, plain and simple. He is the only thing he cares about. Rose spat on the game that he purported to love and he can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned.