Every (Pete) Rose Has Its Thorn

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If you follow baseball it really shouldn't come as a surprise that new baseball commissioner Rob Manfred rejected baseball's all-time hits leader Pete Rose's application to be reinstated. Rose was banned from baseball for life in 1989 by commissioner Bart Giamatti. Rose agreed to the ban after allegations surfaced that he bet on baseball while a player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds, including Reds games. For over a decade Rose vehemently denied that he had ever bet on baseball. Then, after 15 years of repeated denials (and a stint in federal prison for tax evasion), Rose wrote a book, My Prison Without Bars, acknowledging that everything was true: he'd bet on baseball (which is forbidden by MLB rules), he'd bet on his team every night, and he'd been lying to his fans, the baseball community, and the public since the ban. He later said he "came clean" in the book in hopes of being reinstated to baseball (which would enable him to, among other things, become eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame). Throughout his tenure as baseball commissioner, Bud Selig said he wouldn't even consider Rose's application. Manfred replaced Selig as commissioner in early 2015 and promised to give Rose's application for reinstatement consideration. He did...and today (12/14) he turned it down. In his explanation Manfred said that there was ample evidence that Rose had not repented, continuing to bet on sports (including baseball) and showing no real remorse for his actions. Pete Rose is one of the greatest players I've ever seen play the game. His arrogance, however, displayed in his blatant lying to fans, baseball, and the world, however, shows that he only cares about himself and not the game of baseball. I love Pete Rose the player, but I'm glad Pete Rose the unrepentant lying rule-breaker is still banned from baseball.