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Wednesday, November 30, 2005
 Pete Rose, not T.O., is the most excessively punished figure in sports. As of Monday, Rose is no longer eligible to be voted by writers into the Hall of Fame. See story.Sorry, but to me, it's a travesty. He's no saint, but he didn't commit the worst crime against baseball. Not even close. Yes, fans have to trust that games are legit. So isn't the worst crime obvious? It's fixing a game. And no one has accused Rose of even discussing a fix or intentionally throwing a game. Shoeless" Joe Jackson took money from fixers, and didn't spill the beans. That's far worse than what Rose did. Rose is the victim of 1950s logic: Betting leads to blackmail, which leads to fixing games, so one's as bad as the other. Poppycock. By that marijuana-leads-to-heroin kind of thinking, baseball's drug abusers should also get lifetime bans without parole. They not only influence games and tarnish records, they also fraternize with crooks / would-be blackmailers. I wish early on Rose had simply kept repeating, "I never threw a game." Maybe by now, he'd be in the Hall of Fame. Who'll join my Pete Rose Amnesty Drive?
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