The charade of reinstatement
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says he'll have a verdict in a Pete Rose reinstatement request by the end of the calendar year, but the consideration period is disingenuous. The first-year boss has already denied a request by the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum to reinstate that all-time great player banned from baseball for gambling in 1921, and just as Fay Vincent and Bud Selig had to deny Rose to effectively preserve the legacy of Bart Giamatti, Manfred has to deny Rose to preserve the legacy of Vincent and Selig.Rose can't win now because of MLB's greed. Murderers get out of prison in less time than the 26 years Rose has now served in the form of a "lifetime ban" from the game he clearly worships, and to which he has given so much to the fans. The irony is that Major League Baseball didn't have a gambling problem at all when Rose was suspended in 1989, and nobody would come away from the fact of a quarter-century of punishment thinking that baseball was now somehow being too lenient for the crime of betting on baseball, but probably every ballpark today displays multiple advertisements for casinos and/or state lotteries, and lucrative baseball television and radio broadcasts are littered with ads for betting-- on baseball-- in the form of the now-multi-billion dollar industry of daily fantasy sports.
Rose may or may not be reformed, but he's certainly cleaner today than the institution that persists in denying him entry. Manfred might have a hard time keeping a straight face when he makes his announcement regarding Rose's continued discipline, which will likely happen in the month that follows the postseason. When he does, glance down at his podium and take notice of how fat his pockets are.
posted by CM @ 7:13 PM
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