Let’s start with the major story of the week. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the lifetime ban on Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson among others has been lifted, since Rose is now deceased and his direct involvement with the game could not be affected.
The pressure to reinstate Rose in particular was the impetus for this change of heart. There has been constant pressure from the Rose family to remove the ban while Pete was alive. The clamoring did not stop when Rose died last year. Moreover, it did not hurt that
President Donald Trump weighed in and said he was going to pardon Rose, although it is unclear for exactly what. The President remarked on what a fine fellow Rose was and that he was being unfairly treated.
Rose bet on baseball. He had an addiction to the game and an intensity which simply wasn’t satisfied by playing or managing.
But in those days, gambling was totally forbidden and considered a direct stain on the integrity of the game. So then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, a Yale man, thought the only punishment for these transgressions was lifetime ban. Which he imposed on Rose.
Rose, a pariah to those who protect the sanctity of the game, tried many times to be reinstated. Each time, he was rejected, and he died a man never forgiven by baseball.
Pete Rose was a great hitter. He holds the all-time record for base hits. His style was complete hustle, thus earning the nickname “Charlie Hustle.” He was a part of three championship teams—2 in his native Cincinnati and 1 in Philadelphia.
If ever there was a competitor, Rose was it. He may not have had the greatest talent or foot speed. He played a multitude of positions out of a need to find a spot to play after coming to the big leagues as a second baseman.
But his teammates wanted him with them when they competed daily and in the playoffs and World Series. Because they could count on him.
The type of players who remind me of Rose are the Philadelphia Flyers’ Bobby Clarke and Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors. Both were leaders and played with a ferocity which resulted in championships and Green will likely be a Hall of Famer like Clarke already is.
Mike Schmidt, the Phillies’ Hall of Fame third baseman, still echoes that sentiment. New York Yankees Manager Aaron Boone has a direct perspective, having grown up with the Rose children when Boone’s father was a catcher for the Phillies; he loved his time around Rose.
Fan reaction has been overwhelming in Cincinnati where the populace treated this like a major victory. To them it was. Conversely, Giamatti’s son and others are bitter over this sudden change, which besmirches his father’s name.
Now understand that I think that baseball has always been hypocritical. To perpetuate this ban while actively promoting on-line gambling smelled of greed. Manfred found his way out of being in limbo that would excite the public, take the heat off him and the sport, yet give no guarantee that Rose will ever make the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baseball always lets the results count, no matter how tainted they are. Steroids are the great example of that—even though abusers like Alex Rodriguez received suspensions, their records count and the games go on. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and a significant number of people suspected of having enhanced their playing abilities to set records still have ties to the game, unlike Rose.
The ultimate prize for Pete Rose is recognition for his feats. For as a human being, he was far from perfect, almost detestable in so many ways.
Baseball still has its out in this matter. Just because Manfred granted Rose clemency does not at all mean he will be a lock to be enshrined in Cooperstown.
Instead the decision will fall to a committee composed of a number of writers, players, and executives. In assessing Rose, 75%, or 12 of the 15 must vote in favor of enshrinement.
How this committee is formed will largely determine Rose’s chances. If there are enough writers or others who continue to feel that he stained the integrity of baseball by his gambling and character, then Pete Rose won’t obtain absolution.
My take is simple. If you count the games and count the records, then the player’s accomplishments should be the only factor to determine his status. Baseball selectively policed Rose and steroids, leaving Hall of Fame selection to the writers to act as the “Guardians of the Game.”
If an unsavory racist like Ty Cobb is in the Hall, Rose, and others who have plaques on the walls of the Hall’s main building, are no worse. Put up all of the negative language portraying who Rose was to accompany his likeness on that wall. Just get it done when the time comes. Same goes for Bonds, Clemens , A-Rod and those others who cheated.
Meanwhile, injuries have been the major story in the NBA Playoffs second round. Two superstar Olympians were lost to their teams. Steph Curry suffered a hamstring injury which sidelined him and disrupted the flow of the Golden State Warriors team’s offense, leading to their elimination in five games by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Evidently Jimmy Butler III wasn’t “Playoff Jimmy” without the greatest shooter to play the game, a guy who can say “Nite, Nite” after sinking a three pointer from a ridiculous spot on the court in heavy traffic. Curry is that good and if there were any doubters, this reaffirmed his greatness. Green, Butler and the remainder of the team gave what they could; it just wasn’t enough. Sadly, Curry stated that had there been a Game 6 in San Francisco on Saturday, he was lined up to participate.
Let’s not forget that Minnesota now is in the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive year. This time without Karl-Anthony Towns, as the big man plays for the New York Knicks.
Head Coach Chris Finch, who TNT lead announcer Brian Anderson said had journeyed through Europe to learn how to teach players and then rose from the ranks of NBA assistants to assume the top job in Minnesota and had graduated from Division III Franklin and Marshall, has done an outstanding job with his assistants in integrating the new players acquired from New York to play alongside uber-confident superstar Anthony Edwards. Remember that last year Finch was hobbled with a broken leg as a result of an inadvertent sideline collision. No such restrictions for him and his team is healthy.
Then there was the Achilles tendon rupture suffered by Boston’s Jayson Tatum on the floor of Madison Square Garden in Game 4 of the Celtics’ series with the New York Knicks. It spurred the C’s, the defending champions, into overdrive in Game 5, when they soundly defeated the Knicks on the parquet floor of the TD Garden above North Station in Boston.
Before the Garden faithful who hadn’t seen a series clincher since 1999, the Knicks stepped on the gas and never stopped. Coupled with poor three point shooting by Boston and no Tatum, New York advanced in a rout to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000. The celebrity-filled crowd was delirious and the Knicks alumni present in the building were whooping it up.
Indiana awaits. The Pacers, just like the T-Wolves, are returnees to the conference championship. I don’t know what the odds were for this to happen, but if somebody had that parlay, they would be doing just fine.
Rick Carlisle’s troops decimated an injury-riddled Cleveland team which was the top seed in the East. They simply outshot, outworked and played like the better team. The experience of having reached this round again showed and will make the Pacers a very formidable opponent. Could this be the year they finally win a NBA title, or are the Knicks a team of destiny?
A rested Minnesota gets to play the very athletic Oklahoma City Thunder, which survived a rugged seven game series involving the two top candidates for M.V.P., Nikola Jokic of Denver and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Either team could win here. Do I hear a seven game battle?
In hockey, one play defined the series between Stanley Cup-starved Toronto and the defending champion Florida Panthers. Leafs’ goaltender Anthony Stolarz crumpled to the ground after taking an elbow to the head from Florida’s Sam Bennett. Stolarz, the New Jersey native, has been unable to play since, resulting in Toronto having to use its backup goalie. Bennett went undisciplined and made the Leafs chances to continue its pursuit of the Cup became way more dicey as a result.
Still, Toronto went on the road and pitched a shutout to force a deciding seventh game. But the playing from behind against perhaps the best team still alive in the playoffs caught up with the Leafs, disappointing the Toronto fan base once more.
Carolina ended Washington and Alexander Ovechkin’s dream season with two late goals in DC. While Washington had the better regular season record, it would have been a safe bet to take Carolina to move on to its third straight conference finals.
Edmonton once more carved a path to the conference finals by taking out the Vegas Golden Knights. Not considered to be a favorite in the West, the firepower and defense the Oilers displayed looked to be championship-level.
Then again, Dallas which emerged the winner of a six game series, with Western Conference top points leader Winnipeg in a compelling OT win is hardly going to be a walkover for the Oilers and the one-two scoring punch of Connor Mc David and Leon Draisaitl. This is a repeat of last year’s Conference finals; we should have seen this coming.
Two things of note about Winnipeg. First, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was outplayed by his American counterpart on Dallas, Jake Oettinger. Even if he is considered the top NHL goalie and wins the Vezina Trophy, I am not a big Hellebuyck fan; he’s only so so in big games.
Secondly, you have to feel for Winnipeg winger Mark Scheifele. The sudden death of his father on Friday made it diffident for him, as he played in the game after consulting with his family. Scheifele scored Winnipeg’s lone goal, but was disconsolate when Dallas quickly scored in OT to end the game. What was remarkable was the amount of compassion shown by the Dallas players in the post-series handshake line. Hugs galore for Scheifele. Talk about class.
All this comes full circle. What is in the midst of the games and affects the players? Teams are formed with a goal to win it all—this is why the New York Rangers hired Mike Sullivan as their new coach. Sullivan is a proven winner in Pittsburgh; of course he had a young, generational talent to work with in Sidney Crosby.
Calculated risks are taken by managements in the different leagues to assemble a championship-worthy team. Look at how the New York Yankees and New York Mets parried over Juan Soto, who returned to Yankee Stadium this weekend to thunderous negative Bronx cheers (He went 1 for 10—not exemplary numbers).
There are predetermined outcomes and then there aren’t. Who could have foreseen the Dallas Mavericks being as lucky as the Knicks did when they won the NBA Draft Lottery and selected Patrick Ewing?
Stop with the conspiracy theories regarding Dallas GM Nico Harrison trading away Luka Doncic, claiming that giving the Mavs the rights to unanimous top selection Cooper Flagg was to either keep the franchise in Dallas or move it to greener pastures in Las Vegas. Preposterous, I say. Yet the arrival of Flagg will make Harrison look like a savant when we believe he was simply the recipient of profound good luck.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, Chicago Bears and Connecticut Sun have greater chances to leave their homes than Flagg being purposely placed in Dallas. I wonder if the Mohegan Sun casino has offered odds on its team staying or moving?
Steven Miller would smugly tell you that Journalism, Kentucky Derby runner up to Sovereignty, would only win when Sovereignty is present, like at Saturday’s Preakness. College basketball coaches risk throwing millions at young men in futile attempts to win it all under the guise of Name-Image-Likeness.
My point is this—some form of betting is at the root of everything in sports. As it is in all business. Even in politics.
There is no further need to punish Pete Rose. But wouldn’t you think he’d like to make a bet on whether he finally is enshrined in Cooperstown.
Gambling in Sports. Pete Rose. Synonymous. Forever.
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