Rose is out, and so he should stay

Prior to Game 4 of the 2002 World Series, the list of the "Ten Most Memorable Moments" in baseball history was unveiled.

While the list itself was a travesty (an outcome Alexander Hamilton could have predicted, as he understood the dangers of allowing a mob-ocracy to rule), the greater outrage was seen in the stands.

The continued popular support displayed by the fans for baseball exile Pete Rose was sickening. The loving chants of "Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame" were horribly misguided. Fortunately, baseball has no plans to put Rose's reinstatement to a popular vote of the fans.

Rose does not deserve to get a vote, nor does he deserve to have a plaque in Cooperstown. To give him one would be a disgrace. It would be a slap in the face of the fans, although many are too blind to see it.

To argue otherwise, is to not understand what led to Rose's banishment from the game, or the history of our fragile national pastime.

Let's look at the facts:

On March 6, 1989, then Commissioner of Baseball, Bart Giamatti, began an investigation into allegations that Pete Rose had bet on baseball games in which he had a "duty to perform" in violation of Major League Rule 21. The commissioner appointed a special counsel to lead the investigation.

Rose was given notice of the allegations and he and his counsel were kept informed of the progress of the investigation. Depositions were taken under oath. In other words, Rose received the full array of rights associated with due process, just as if the proceedings had been in a court of law.

On May 9, 1989, the special counsel provided a 225-page report, including over eighty pieces of physical evidence showing that Rose had bet on baseball. Rose received a copy of the report and was given an opportunity to respond to the charges. When Rose requested an extension, before having to answer the charges against him, it was granted.

Before the hearing was to be held, Rose voluntarily agreed to a lifetime ban from the game. In exchange, he was not forced to admit or deny the allegations contained in the charges against him. The punishment he accepted was the punishment required had baseball proven the charges. If it had been a case in a court of law, what Rose did would be known as pleading "no lo contendre," no contest.

While one who pleads no contest does not admit guilt, the legal effect of such a plea is identical to a guilty plea, at least as to the action in question. And so it was in this case. Rose accepted the punishment he would have received had the charges been proved.

To top it all off, in the signed agreement between baseball and its all-time hits king, Rose acknowledged that the commissioner had "treated him fairly in the agreement and had acted in good faith throughout the course of the investigation and proceedings."

Why did Rose "plead" in such a manner? Because there were far greater threats to his personal well being looming on the horizon in the summer of 1989 than banishment from baseball.

A tornado of criminal charges was chasing Rose. A finding by baseball that he had bet on games would have been extremely damaging to him, a finding that most certainly would have occurred had a hearing ever been held.

Today, revisionists try to paint the facts as they wish them to be. They focus on the fact that there was no hearing, and that Rose never admitted to betting on baseball. While both are true, that was Rose's choice. Had Rose wished to continue to fight a losing battle with baseball that would have been his right. While not a genius, he is no fool. He cut his losses knowing he was caught red-handed.

A second, equally troubling, argument is that Rose should be allowed into the Hall, since he deserves to be there for his onfield work as a player, while his transgressions, if there were any, were committed while he was a manager. This argument too is baseless.

No one who has ever seen a baseball game would ever claim that Rose was not a great baseball player. He was one of the finest these two eyes have ever seen.

The claim, rather, is that Rose took actions so detrimental to the game that the presence of a plaque with his name and likeness in Cooperstown is an afront to the very heart of the sport, the integrity of the outcomes of games.

Gambling almost killed baseball once. This is not hyperbole. It is fact. Only a big, German-American, left-hander from Baltimore, with a child-like love of the game, and a knack for putting baseball's into orbit, was able to save it. Looking around, I don't see any Babe Ruths around the game today, Barry Bonds not withstanding.

When the stink of gambling almost killed the game as 1919 became 1920, the game and its new commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, took the appropriate action. Those who were involved in gambling on baseball were properly and permanently banished. Some of them (Joe Jackson, Ed Ciccotte) had Hall-of-Fame careers. Others (Hal Chase) were at least close. None of those men belongs in the Hall. The game is bigger than any player or manager, no matter how talented.

Rose violated baseball's only inviolable commandment -- Thou shalt not gamble on our game, nor consort with those who do.

He knew the penalty for his transgression, baseball's equivalent of the death penalty. There was precedent after all and a written rule that reads: "Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible."

There is a segment of the baseball world that still calls for the induction of "Shoeless Joe" as well. While the arguments that Jackson was largely blameless in the notorious "Black Sox Scandal" might have some merit, it is virtually inconceivable that he had no idea what was going on in the fall of 1919. Jackson should remain on the outside of the Hall looking in, remembered for his greatness on the field, but denied the game's highest honor.

The case against Rose is even more clear cut. It is impossible to claim he didn't know what he was doing. Rose is out, and there should be no appeal.