Pete's Worse Bet

In 1970 I saw my first major league baseball game at Crosley Field. To be honest I don't remember much of the game, but I do remember the walking up to the gate, the poles used to support the upper grandstand and the excitement of the crowd. I was 5 years old at the time and my love affair with the Cincinnati Reds began with that one game.

When you are 5 years old the entire world is bigger than you, but nothing was bigger than the Big Red Machine. Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Pete Rose, these guys were my heroes and they could do no wrong! Years pass and you begin to realize that the heroes you held so high are merely human, imperfect in every sense as we all are. No one typifies this point more so than Peter Edward Rose. Pete Rose is about as human as it gets.

The days leading up to August 24th, 1989, when Pete was banished from baseball, were the craziest days that Cincinnati had ever seen. This was when 24 hour news reporting was beginning to hit stride and filling air time was at a premium. I remember going to a Reds game in late July of '89 and seeing a city of satellite dishes fill the plaza at Riverfront Stadium and parade down towards Mehring Way. Rumors and allegations were flying everywhere, there was no escaping the Pete Rose gambling story. It wasn't a surprise to see your neighbor, grade school teacher or knothole coach being interrogated by a TV reporter on how Pete Rose affected their lives. Until I witnessed the O.J. Trial I never saw news agencies hunger for more angles to a story than the Pete Rose gambling scandal.

Anyone who knows me can attest that the 14 years following Bart Giamatti's banishment decree I stood by my fallen hero and defended him at every opportunity. Then in January of 2004 Pete Rose finally admitted that he bet on baseball including games involving the Cincinnati Reds. The admission also came with an apology. Pete was sorry for lying to his fans and to the game of baseball. I was crushed but was able to admit to myself that Pete Rose broke the cardinal rule of baseball, albiet 14 years too late. Before this, so long as there was a mere doubt of Pete's guilt, I was hoping that he would be reinstated to the game that made him my hero. Now that Pete Rose has admitted he put the integrity of the game in jeopardy and any doubts of innocence that may have existed are gone, I feel that he should be banned for life.

But there is something to this story that nags at me, why after 14 years of fierce denials would Pete finally come clean to the baseball world and his fans? This month, Phillies slugger and Pete's friend, Mike Schmidt releases a book that details meetings Pete Rose had with MLB officials, including Bud Selig. Pete was assured that his reinstatement would be considered so long as he admitted his guilt and apologized for allowing this cloud to hang over the baseball world. I would have never made this deal, you see I believe in the rule of law and the rules state that if you bet on baseball you are out of the game. But the rule of law should include that a person has the right to the assumption of innocence and the protection from self-incrimination. Bud Selig and his cronies enticed Rose to incriminate himself with the bargain that it will get him reinstated to baseball. Pete Rose lived up to his side of the deal but Selig still refuses to consider reinstatement. According to Schmidt, "He (Selig) told me he got the confession he had expected, but not the expression of genuine remorse he had hoped for."

One has to wonder what Selig considers an expression of genuine remorse, for that matter, what makes him qualified to recognize true remorse. At this point I have to believe that Pete was duped. Nothing Pete could have done would have satisfied Bud Selig and MLB. They never really intended to reinstate Pete Rose in the first place, regardless of how much remorse Rose showed or didn't show. All they were concerned with was that they got Pete to admit to the public that he lied as a means to stop all the urging from his fans to bring Rose back into the game. Shame on you Bud Selig, for as righteous as you think you are in that lofty perch called the Commissioner's Office you are no better than Pete Rose. The gamble that Pete took that Selig's word was worth more than his own was a bet that Pete lost.