Baseball spawns optimism in a way that is easier to appreciate than explain. The Rockies will win because they can ear box pitchers from the first six spots in their lineup. Pitching? Overrated. Colorado slugs (just don’t tell your friends that Kyle Lohse reminds no one of Clayton Kershaw). Those craft beer glasses are half-full.
When the season starts, childlike enthusiasm returns. The Cubs, for heavens sake, hold 20-to-1 World Series odds.
Hope. Forgiveness.
Which brings us to Pete Rose. You’ve heard of him. Great hitter, wears the heck out of a pair of Skechers. Likes checking the betting lines.
Nobody won when Rose stepped into the batter’s box against former commissioner Bartlett Giamatti. Baseball lost.
Giamatti banished Rose from Major League Baseball in 1989 for betting on games.
Rose’s betting infuriated Giamatti. Rose’s lying enraged him. Faced with damning evidence, Rose, the Cincinnati Reds’ manager at the time, agreed to a lifetime ban without admitting guilt. After all, he had the right to appeal after one year.
Just days later, Giamatti died of a heart attack. His successor, Bud Selig, was having none of Rose’s arguments. He felt that providing an audience to the all-time hits leader would betray Giamatti. Rose’s tell-all book in 2004 hardened Selig’s resolve. Rose was profiting off of his delayed confession.
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Into this sinkhole steps new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. He said recently that he would consider Rose for reinstatement, the first sign of a possible thawing. He plans to examine the Dowd Report, which detailed Rose’s transgressions, and wants to hear Rose’s side.
John Dowd said a few weeks ago there’s no reason to end Rose’s banishment.
Where does that leave us? As a player, Rose was uncomplicated. As a citizen, he was a mess. He broke baseball’s cardinal rule, which reads that anyone who bets on the game “shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
Permanently doesn’t scream for leniency. Case closed.
Not necessarily. The argument for reinstating Rose is simple in a sport that long ago dropped the charade of moral virtue. Nothing affected the results of baseball as much as performance-enhanced players. Views on gambling have changed dramatically since Rose was barred. Millions partake in daily online wagers through FanDuel and Draft Kings, for instance.
Pete always has been about Pete. He acted like a child when remorse and humility would have served him well. However, Dowd did not present evidence that Rose bet on the game as a player, though he believes he did. It is an important distinction, and why I suggest it is time to parole Rose.
Rose must appeal with hat in hand to Manfred. If Manfred lacks proof that Rose bet on baseball as a player, then he should reinstate him. It would show proper compassion for a man who has served a 26-year sentence.
And Manfred still wins. The Reds can hire Rose as an ambassador and parade him around Great American Ball Park during the All-Star Game.
And Hall of Famers will still ostracize him.
Rose won’t receive the one thing he most wants: entrance to Cooperstown. The writer’s ballot omitted him for the 15 years he was eligible because of his banishment.
If Manfred reinstates Rose, his candidacy would be weighed by the Expansion Era Committee, which includes current Hall of Famers. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame as a player.
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The committee never will vote for him, though, because of how he upstaged Cooperstown elections with unseemly autograph signings. So the problem of what to do with Pete Rose offers an equally unsatisfying solution that even hope can’t resolve: Allow Rose back in the game, but do not allow him in the Hall of Fame.
Troy E. Renck: trenck @denverpost.com or troyrenck
