SPORTS
Rose deserves shot at Hall after paying price
The young boys look up at their new teacher with a
kind of awe. He's got a swagger to his walk and a
smile that makes them want to smile back.
They’re probably too young to remember this base
ball demigod, but he would probably be recognized by
their fathers and older brothers.
Pete Rose, the man. is a sports legend, but Pete
Rose, the convict, is now a gym teacher’s aide at a Cin
cinnati elementary school.
But to the ruling class of Major League Baseball, that
punishment is not enough for Pete Rose.
As manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Rose committed
the cardinal sin of betting on his own club. Following
an extensive investigation by the league office. Rose
paid the price for his faults with a 1989 lifetime ban
from the game he cradled like a baby for his 24 years
as a player.
Rose, baseball’s all-time career hits leader, complet
ed a five-month prison sentence at an Illinois prison
camp last week for his conviction of income tax eva
sion. He will serve the remaining three months of his
sentence living in a Cincinnati halfway house and per
forming 1,000 hours of community service by instruct
ing youngsters in an elementary gym class.
Last Thursday, a special Baseball Hall of Fame com
mittee proposed a resolution to bar the Hall induction
of players who are on the ineligible list of Major
League Baseball. This proposal will come under con
sideration by the Hall of Fame board of directors on
Feb. 4.
Because of his crimes as a baseball manager, and not
From the Sidelines
■>>
JAKE BERG
as a player. Rose is the latest name etched on base
ball's blacklist. Current rules of Hall eligibility’ say that
he would Ik? considered for enshrinement next year,
but if the new resolution were adopted. Hose's name
would be deleted from the ballot
It's not often that you will find me throwing my sup
port behind criminals, but. then again. Charles Keat
ing and Michael Milken are hardly living legends up
for induction to a hall of fame.
Pete Rose changed the face of the game; he enjoyed
what hi; was doing and wasn’t earning $5 million a
season doing it. The man was intense, insane if you
will, about baseball Who else dove into home plate
headfirst with such fire in his eyes?
Fact: nobody had as many hits as Pete Rose did. Pe
riod No one. Not the tiabe. not DiMaggio. not Mantle,
not Williams, and not even Cobb. That fact alone
would lie enough to let Dr Kuth into the Hall of Fame
Rose's foot touched first base safely ■Ci’Sii times, and
now the Hall is attempting to forget every one of those
hits. They are trying to erase the memory of one of the
game's greatest players simply to advertise what they
claim art; their standards of Hall acceptance.
Two players voted into the Hall of Fame last week
were hardly saints, Caylord Perry, perhaps the most
prolific spitballer in baseball history, and Ferguson
lenkins. once discovered to have possessed cocaine on
a Canadian road trip, were both accepted at Coopers
town despite their faults.
To me. cheating and using drugs is much more dam
aging to the integrity of a human being than gambling.
We lay down pennies as bets the first time we ever
play five-card draw; since third grade. I've bet with
friends on footUdl games.
I am not condoning gambling and am certainly not
approving Rose's violation of a major rule by betting
on his own team What Rose did was wrong, but was it
so bad that he should lie denied laiseliall nirvana in ad
dition to his lifetime exile? No
The day Pete Rose left the game as a player should
la- the final day we remember tin? man Pete Rose as far
as the Hall goes The convict Pete Rose committed his
crimes after his retirement as a player and thus should
have no bearing on his accomplishments as a player
When I learned of his less redeeming qualities,
namely gambling. I was not shocked because to err is
human Although Pete Rose was once baseball's Zeus,
he was also human and all of us have our glitches no
matter what we dream I forgave Pete Rose, as many
baseball fans have, for what he did had nothing to do
with his greatness as a player, and that is what the
Hall ot the Fame is all about
Super Bowl plans intact despite Gulf situation
NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL said
Monday it plans to hold its remaining
postseason games as scheduled, al
though it will continue to review the
status of them in light of the tense situa
tion in the Persian Culf.
A report in this week’s Advertising
Ago magazine said the NFL would con
sider postponing the Super Bowl, set for
Tampa, Fla., on (an 27, if war breaks
out in the gulf.
"The NFL is planning to complete the
remaining postseason games as sched
uled.” NFL spokesman (Ireg Aiello
said. "If events during the next three
weeks lead us to re-evaluate our plans,
we will make an announcement to that
effect at that time."
AIM! spokesman Mark Mandel said
the network was going ahead with its
Super liowl plans and hadn’t consul
ered contingency plans.
"Obviously, no one on earth knows
what's going to happen in the Persian
Oulf.” Mandel said. "Kight now. we're
going ahead as we've planned it for a
long time.”
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