It appears Charlie Hustle is finally back in baseball -- sort of. FOX has signed him to do pre-game TV commentary on various games and other talking head duties. It's a start.
While FOX is affiliated with Major League Baseball as a broadcast partner, and Rose remains "banned" from the game, the network didn't need the league's permission to hire him (though they did give them a heads-up). This is a good thing because the alternative would definitely be cause for concern. If and when a major conglomerate like MLB can dictate who they will or will not approve as on-air talent to provide commentary on their business, then any objective media coverage could find itself on the endangered species list down the road. Tow the party line or get your press passes yanked. Granted, most scribes and talking heads have already succumbed to the politically correct fever, whereby they've lost sight of objectivity in favor of being Pollyannas. In other words, they're scared to death of being critical of ANYBODY, lest it, horrors!, offend someone -- even though it's their job to do so when a given situation calls out for it . True, there's still a few around with a little gumption, but they're a dying breed.
Pete Rose has been banned since 1989 -- 26 years ago. At that, he was conned in the first place over his betting. Rose was led to believe that if he just "fessed up" and accepted a ban, MLB would consider leniency towards him in the future. Twenty six years and no change. That's a mighty long sentence with no end in sight. So what happened to the "leniency"? New and current Commissioner Rob Manfred has stated he would consider Rose's case based on its merits. Translation? He's going to kick the can down the road much like his predecessor Bud Selig and other Commissioners before him did. In other words, Manfred is more worried about his image than righting an obvious travesty of justice.
Public opinion overwhelmingly supports Rose not only being reinstated to the game, but getting his rightful spot in Cooperstown as the all-time hits leader -- a record that will never even be approached in the future, much less surpassed.
What few realize is that the Hall of Fame itself is an independent entity from MLB. They are not, and never have been bound by any rulings or proclamations handed down by any Commissioner over the years. However, they have always had a rule that says induction into their Hall requires 75% of the eligible voters cast their ballots for any given candidate.
Enter the grumpy old men. For the most part, the Hall electorate consists of the BBWAA (BaseBall Writers Association of America). In order to be a member of THAT club, one must have been a baseball beat writer for at least 10 years. Consider what that translates to as well.
Some hot shot kid fresh out of journalism school might find a job with a newspaper, but it would likely take them several years to work their way up to getting a major league assignment as a beat writer. Add on another 10 years after they become card-carrying members of the BBWAA, and what do you have? Old schoolers, set in their ways. These are the people that decide who goes to the Hall of Fame -- or not.
They don't want to hear about how the Hall if chock full of drunks and adulterers that their predecessors voted in. They also don't want to hear about how Ty Cobb once allegedly killed a man, and all the other racists they voted in over the years. And they surely don't want to hear the truth about the most "infamous" of them all - one Shoeless Joe Jackson and his Chicago Black Sox that supposedly threw the 1919 World Series. Nevermind that when all the evidence, or lack thereof, finally came out, Jackson was totally absolved of any wrong doing. Look it up. No, it's much easier to sweep the mistakes of the past under the rug and pretend they never happened than face them and correct it, if posthumously. Jackson went to his grave in 1951 still rightfully proclaiming his innocence -- to no avail. The old schoolers weren't interested. Still aren't.
Look at recent history. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both otherwise locks to the Hall of Fame, were accused of a lot of things, but never found guilty of ANYTHING relating to substance abuse. Like Shoeless Joe, when they finally got their day in court, they were absolved. Yet that doesn't seem to make any difference. Initial perception (see media hype and the ever-growing horde of arm-chair prosecutors) became reality. Once accused, they MUST be guilty seems to be in vogue these days. That should be a very scary thought, because it could happen to you some day. Don't think so? How many times have we heard of guys doing 25-30 years in prison before DNA evidence finally cleared them of a crime they never committed? It happens. Why? Because old-schoolers were content to let them rot rather than be objective and open-minded all along to things that just might contradict their original perception.
Let's get real. Some day, some year, Pete Rose will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Make no mistake, it's going to happen eventually -- because it has to. The all-time hits leader in the entire history of baseball being denied because he bet on his own team to win while he was a manager? Are you kidding me? The only thing holding it up is the grumpy old men who would rather stand on their misguided principles than face reality. Like the dinosaurs, they may have been around for a long time and ruled the roost, but their time is coming to fade away into extinction and be replaced by more intelligent creatures. They will see things differently and rightly so.
The only question is whether Rose will still be alive to enjoy it. Now 74, he's not exactly a young man. So why not just get it done already?
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