“Thorny Issue-Pete Rose-Nipped at the Bud”
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There will be no more arguments, no more debates, no more press releases, nor any public pleadings.
Yes there will probably be appearances at car dealerships and in casinos, and autograph sessions in malls and even at Cooperstown.
But no, Pete Rose is not coming back to baseball in any capacity.
New Commissioner Rob Manfred gave the hit-king his day and court, and threw him and his lawyer and his appeal out onto the street into the gutter, where he deserves to be as a person, not so much a player.
It’s been a 25-year long soap opera involving Rose, lawyers, sleazy gamblers, investigators and Reds and Phillies fans, as the disgraced star of yesterday desperately tried to get reinstated to the game.
Manfred, in a 4-page summary says Rose today, is much like Rose of yesteryear. A gambling addict, showing no remorse, who continues to refuse to change the lifestyle that led to the initial lifetime rejection from the game in 1989, the aftermath of the John Dowd report.
The 243-page document showed Rose bet on baseball games, his own teams, and every other team in 1986, a complete and utter disregard for Rule-21 prohibiting gambling on baseball.
The discipline was followed by nearly 20-years of denials and lies from Rose that he bet on games, though a paper trail turned over to Dowd, the lead investigator, linked Rose to all types of bets in one single year. The documents provided by the people who took the best, ran the numbers, and delivered the money
The shadowy figures squealed when they got nabbed in a bigger gambling syndicate raid.
The nearly two decades of denials finally went away, when Rose admitted in 2005, yes he did bet, was contrite and asked forgiveness. That was accompanied by his public push of asking for a meeting for re-evaluation of his case.
But in the interim, came new revelations, that Rose gambled as a Reds player too, prior to becoming a manager. And as Rose sat infront of Manfred, pleading his case, baseball dug up more dirt. Rose betting on games in casinos in Las Vegas. Rose refusing request from MLB to seek counseling help for his addiction. His lack of remorse infront of the Commissioner in the early fall hearing. And the lies, always the lies.
When Manfred was done with his written decision, Rose looked worse on paper now, than then, and would remain suspended from all baseball related team activities. No Reds nor Phillies functions. No ambassador type positions. No further reinstatement opportunities.
The icing on the cake was Manfred’s assertion the player-manager-gambler showed no remorse and had no depth of understanding about what he did wrong. It was always Pete Rose’s way to what he wanted, when he wanted, with whomever he wanted, especially the underlife of society, loansharks and all.
Words like ‘failed to reconfigure’, ‘never refocused’, ‘was not believable’, ‘maintained his lifestyle’ were all part of the rationale as to why Rose is no different in 2015 than he was in 1986.
The Commissioner did say something interesting, that the ban going forward involved only baseball employment. Manfred says it was not his call about the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. They should make their own decision on whether Rose’s name should be on the ballot.
It opens an interesting dilemma, for the Hall had forever taken the stance, ineligible people, from Shoeless Joe Jackson thru Rose, would not be up for vote. Manfred changed that parameter, so that the Hall could even reconsider its stance, from the 1919 Black Sox star to the Dirty Red of the 1980s.
The memorabilia from his 4,256-hit career is in Cooperstown, and many think he deserves to be there too, even if he can no longer be at the ballpark, working for a club.  I am one of them.

I appreciated all things Pete Rose, the player.  I think Pete Rose, the person, was despicable.
But for this day, Charley Hustle, the hit king, got thrown out once and for all.

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