Pete Rose: Hit King

Pete Rose is a lot like Bob Knight to me.

He's pugnacious, complex, intelligent, exercises poor judgment, and is one of the very best at what he does.

Pete Rose is on my mind because he was interviewed today on ESPN Radio by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann.

Pete Rose is sixty-six years old. He sounds simultaneously repentent and oblivious for having bet on baseball games, having bet on his own team while a manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

All Pete seems to think about is money. He doesn't seem to recognize the trust he broke by gambling on baseball games and by gambling on his own team as the Reds' manager. He argues that he should manage again because his fame would put fans in stadium seats.

The question that always dogs any discussion of Pete Rose is whether he should be in the baseball Hall of Fame. It's a moot question now, I guess. His time to be voted in by the sportswriters has run out. The Veterans' Committee would never vote him in.

If I were commissioner, here's what I would have done before his time ran out. I would have decreed that Pete Rose should be inducted into the Hall of Fame as the Hit King and as the model player he was: a hustler, leader, student of the game, and as a player of limited talent who squeezed every bit of performance he could out of the talent he had.

Now wait a minute: Commissioner Raymond Pert wouldn't let him be inducted like any other player.

First, he would not speak at his induction.

Second, his plaque would note his accomplishments and his violations. A fan would get the whole story.

Third, Pete Rose would remain banned from managing.

His induction would be a complicated one, honoring Pete Rose's accomplishments, which are legend, and owning up to his crimes against baseball, which are legendary.

At Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, the Reds are opening the ground floor of their team's Hall of Fame with an exhibition honoring Pete Rose. I have visited this Hall of Fame, loved it, and I would love to see this exhibition honoring Rose's accomplishments.

I do, however, think the exhibition should tell the whole story. After all, Rose's accomplishments on behalf of baseball are as legendary as his proclivities that besmirched the game's honor.