A Rose by Any Other Name...

 …should be so dumb.  According to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, he met with Rose in September to discuss reinstatement.  At some point in the meeting, Manfred told Rose of evidence showing he had bet on baseball as a player as well as a manager.  Rose denied the allegation, then owned up to it, sort of.  It seems that Charlie Hustle can’t remember details of his gambling days so well any more.  You’d think he’d crawl into that meeting on his hands and knees, ready to admit to everything, but that’s not the Pete Rose way.

No, the Rose way is to hold a news conference in Las Vegas—let me repeat, LAS VEGAS!—to say that he’s a changed man, though he still bets on baseball, recreationally, of course.  My God, this is embarrassing, more so when Rose says, “All I look forward to being someday is a friend of baseball.  I want baseball and Pete Rose to be friends.”  Don’t hold your breath, Pete.

I’ve already laid out the conditions I’d impose on Rose for entry into the HOF—public admission of guilt and having a plaque in Cooperstown that details both his gambling and longtime denials of it. But off that meeting with Manfred, I can’t blame the commissioner for keeping the ban on Rose in place.  But I also seem to remember an old saying about Caesar’s wife needing to be above suspicion.  Baseball games with commercials for fantasy sports’ betting websites make me suspicious.