So there are rumors floating about that Bud Selig is considering lifting the "Lifetime" ban hanging over Pete Rose, which keeps him from being part of baseball and as a result, has kept one of the all time great hitters from taking his rightful place in the Hall of Fame.
First of all, people make mistakes and have to live up to them. Pete Rose committed what baseball people consider the greatest sin. He gambled on baseball while managing and playing for the Reds.
For those who question why this is such a big deal, Think back to the Black Sox scandal of 1919 when 8 members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to "throw" the World Series.
Baseball is all about integrity, well unless you bring up steroids, and they treat gambling seriously.
I guess what I would like to know is, why call it a lifetime ban if the ban may not in fact last the rest of Rose's life?
Pete Rose has never been contrite about the fact he did this. In fact he repeatedly denied it until he wrote a tell-all autobiography, "My Prison Without Bars" in 2004. Only when he could gain financially from the situation did he come clean.
People make mistakes in life, and in America, if you are contrite and ask for forgiveness, people are generally willing to give you a second chance. Perhaps if he had been honest and straightforward about all of this from the time it became public, then maybe he'd already be back in baseball by now.
Bud Selig has proven he has no spine when it comes to baseball, just take a look at the steroids era. It was only when Congress FORCED him to adopt a drug policy that he instituted one. If not for that, would they even CARE that most of their homerun sluggers were juicing?
Don't be surprised to see Selig reinstate Rose. Maybe Commissioner Giamatti really meant Lifetime ban to mean HIS lifetime...not Pete Rose's.
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