Major League Baseball should think twice before removing Pete Rose from banned list

• Pete Rose’s family is petitioning MLB to remove him from the ineligibility list, which would allow him to be considered for the Hall of Fame.
• Rose was banned from baseball for life in 1989 for betting on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
• Some argue that Rose deserves a second chance, while others believe that his actions should have permanent consequences.

Pete Rose has been dead for five months and yet with help from his family is still trying to Charlie Hustle his way into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

If successful, Rose will have thrown baseball’s front office a curveball that even he could not hit. If the Hit King becomes eligible for Hall of Fame induction posthumously, well, Shoeless Joe Jackson would like a word. And if a player’s slate gets wiped clean at death, then Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and a host of other Hall of Fame wannabes may have something to look forward to in the afterlife. 

To review, after receiving a petition for reinstatement from Rose’s family, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is considering removing Rose from the ineligibility list, according to reports. Doing so would open the door for Rose to be considered for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which in 1991 passed a rule declaring that any player ruled ineligible by MLB could not appear on a Hall of Fame ballot.

Rose was banned for life in 1989 when MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti determined the game’s all-time hits leader bet on baseball when managing the Cincinnati Reds. Rose admitted in a 2014 book to gambling on baseball, but said he bet only on the Reds to win. Rose denied reports he also placed bets as a player.

Manfred upheld the lifetime ban in 2015 by rejecting Rose’s reinstatement, but may be softening his stance after the Sept. 30 death of the three-time World Series winner. 

Jeffrey Lenkov, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented Rose prior to his death at age 83, met with Rose’s oldest daughter, Fawn, and Manfred on Dec. 17. 

“It is now time to turn the page on Pete Rose’s legacy in baseball and for the Hall of Fame to honor him,” Lenkov said. “Whether you are a fan or not of Pete Rose, we are at our best a nation of second chances, a nation of giving people second opportunities. We don’t write off people.”

Would baseball media write Rose off or write him in? He has never appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot, and the general feeling is that younger voters would take a kinder view of Rose’s gambling habits and give him a thumb’s up based on statistical merit. After all, that betting-on-baseball business was so long ago.

But extending Rose a posthumous invite opens the door for all kinds of awkwardness. What to do about Jackson, who would be in the Hall by now if not for the Black Sox scandal of 1919? Or what’s to stop other players from gambling, knowing their baseball legacy will live on in the Hall of Fame?   

Then there is this: Lenkov’s comments came a day after President Donald Trump said he would pardon Rose and criticized MLB for barring Rose from the Hall of Fame.

One would hope Manfred would not bow to political pressure and reinstate Rose just because the prez wants it, which would make a mockery of the National Pastime. Presumably, Trump’s pardon would be for Rose’s 1990 conviction on tax evasion charges, for which he served five months in prison after pleading guilty.

Rose also admitted to having bet on baseball. He served longer than five months. An entire life sentence. What to do now? A posthumous get-out-of-jail-free card doesn’t feel exactly right. But is it so wrong? Shoeless Joe wants to know. 

Speaking of bad guys … Jimmy Butler

I didn’t like how NBA guard Jimmy Butler behaved over his final weeks with the Miami Heat, walking out of practice, missing a flight and earning a third suspension for conduct detrimental to the team. But I also wondered if this was as much a Miami front-office issue as Butler simply behaving badly because he wanted to be traded. Maybe the Heat were being too hard on the All-Star, who eventually got his wish and got traded Feb. 7 to Golden State.

Then news broke Sunday that Butler’s bad behavior may not have been confined to basketball. A lawsuit claims Butler failed to pay rent and left a Miami Beach home in shambles near the end of his time in South Beach.

A rental marketing company is suing Butler for $257,282, claiming he left his $130,000-a-month rental property in “complete disrepair,” according to the Miami Herald. 

According to the rental company, Butler barely maintained the property and prohibited maintenance upkeep. He once denied workers access to check the HVAC system, which led to a leak that ruined the ceiling and floors. Swimming pool maintenance also was neglected. The lawsuit also claims Butler changed locks without giving the landlord a copy of the key.

Sounds like a stand-up guy. 

I always respected Butler’s game, but his boorish behavior sheds new light on the situation. I tend to think the Heat had it right all along. This guy is high maintenance on the court and does low maintenance off it. 

Listening in

“The most fun I ever had in my career, and that’s counting Super Bowls and national championships, was at Fox Sports.” – 81-year-old Jimmy Johnson, who is retiring after 31 years at the network.  

Off-topic

Had to begin wearing a mouthpiece at night. For snoring. Sigh. Can anyone relate? My wife is thrilled. Me? Dealing with it. I’m also doing a sinus rinse twice daily. It’s like waterboarding yourself. Apparently, I took a shot to the nose at some point in my life, which caused a deviated septum. Probably sports-related, although I recall getting kicked in the beak during a before-bed wrestling match with my son years ago. That will do it.  

roller@dispatch.com

@rollerCD

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