A change of heart on Rose

Not that I necessarily thought the lifetime ban that prohibited former Cincinnati Reds player/manager Pete Rose from having anything to do with Major League Baseball should be lifted, but I always thought Rose deserved a plaque in baseball’s Hall of Fame. It didn’t make sense, I felt, to deny a spot to the player who had more base hits than any other player in the history of the game. But I felt that plaque should clearly state that, in addition to his accomplishments on the baseball diamond, Rose was banished from the game of baseball for betting on the game while he was manager of the Reds.

Not now, however, not after today’s revelations that Rose was, in effect, in hock to the New York mob because of bets he made while he was a player. This reinforces my belief his banishment is justified and robs me of any argument I might have had about in his inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

And this revelation comes less than two months after Rose appeared on an ESPN radio talk show in New York and said he "never bet as a player. That’s a fact." Reminds me of the words attributed to Buddha, "Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth."

Rose maintains he has a meeting with baseball commissioner Rob Manfred scheduled for sometime after the break for the All-Star game to discuss Rose’s possible reinstatement. If this is true, Manfred should cancel the meeting and state unequivocally there will be no further discussions between MLB and Rose and/or his representatives for at least as long as he is commissioner.

And if there was a suitable deserted island somewhere …