Why Pete Rose's latest reinstatement letter to MLB is as insincere as all his other pleas | Opinion
An aging Pete Rose once again has dropped to his knees, head bowed, hands clasped, begging baseball’s big guy to let him into the Hall of Fame.
Rose said he’s "sorry" and asked for "forgiveness" in a letter he reportedly sent last week to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. Not much new in Rose’s latest plea, other than the 81-year-old all-time hits leader invoked his age this time. It seemed like an unsophisticated attempt to pressure Manfred to lift Rose’s lifetime baseball ban before he dies.
Sad stuff. It’s also a one-page load of crap.
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The letter, first obtained by TMZ, is yet another reminder that Rose is only sorry he got caught 33 years ago for betting on his own team as the Cincinnati Reds’ manager.
A truly contrite man would’ve given up gambling completely. Instead, Rose continues to travel the nation to promote it. He celebrates gambling. It is his identity.
Rose has practically become the unofficial spokesman of Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati. He is scheduled to place the first wager at Cincinnati's new Hard Rock Sportsbook on Jan. 1, 2023, when sports betting becomes legal in Ohio. He’s made at least two other appearances at the Downtown casino since last fall. Rose regularly signs autographs at casinos in Las Vegas, where he lives. He’s been doing it for decades.
There’s nothing illegal about Rose appearing at casinos and continuing to gamble. Sports gambling is coming to Ohio, and I’m all for responsible and legal wagering.
But it’s laughable that Rose continues to think that Manfred and everyone else should forgive him. If you owned a bar and banned the town drunk from it, would you let him back in after he’s been seen repeatedly stumbling around the sidewalks and reeking of booze for several years?
Rose missed his window for possible reinstatement decades ago. If he'd have quit all wagering, apologized sooner and started traveling the nation speaking out on the dangers of gambling, then maybe he should have been considered for reinstatement. Maybe.
Instead, Rose's credibility continues to erode. He is too arrogant and out-of-touch to understand we see right through him. In the letter, Rose had the audacity to say that "I hold myself accountable." Pay no attention to the man showing up at your local casino, folks. That's just the Hit King living in his own little kingdom. We saw Rose's high-level narcissism on full display last summer, when he shifted into full chauvinist mode and called a woman Philadelphia baseball reporter “babe.”
I criticized Rose for the cringey comment. I wrote that I was done with him, and we all should be. He no longer deserved attention. Why am I back writing about him today then? Because I received a lot of emails from readers defending Rose. It wasn’t surprising. He remains a hometown hero. But too many people can't separate Pete Rose the ball player and Pete Rose the person.
We can appreciate what Rose did on the field, but 4,192 is long in the past. Rose the person remains in the present. And his actions since Aug. 24, 1989, the day he was permanently banned from baseball, have given us no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to reinstatement.
Manfred likely will take the proper step and send Rose’s letter where all of his other have-mercy-on-me memos have gone − the local landfill.
Follow sports columnist Jason Williams on Twitter @jwilliamscincy.