No Hall of Fame for Pete Rose

Pete Rose suffered another setback in his quest to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame:

Pete Rose's eligibility for the baseball writers' Hall of Fame ballot expired Monday when the 2006 candidates were announced, a group that includes Cy Young Award winners Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden.

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Following an investigation of his gambling, Rose agreed in August 1989 to a lifetime ban. The Hall's board of directors voted unanimously in February 2001 that anyone on the permanently ineligible list couldn't appear on the BBWAA ballot.

Rose, baseball's career hits leader, applied for reinstatement in September 1997 and met with commissioner Bud Selig in November 2002. His efforts to end his suspension appeared to falter after he admitted in his 2004 autobiography, "Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars," that he bet on the Cincinnati Reds while managing the teams in the late 1980s.

I only mention this story because a few weeks ago the Mrs. and I went to Las Vegas, and as we were making our way through the Forum Shops as Caeser's Palace, we came upon a small crowd at a sports store. On the outskirts of the crowd were three or four young ladies holding up signs that said "Pete Rose is Here". Sure enough, sitting at the table signing his book was Rose - not the fit athlete pictured in the poster over his head, but a middle aged, puffy, overweight version of the famous baseball player.

We looked on for a moment with the usual curiosity that one has when you encounter a famous person, and as we were walking away I heard another guy say "I'd just like to ask him why he bet on baseball". No matter what Rose did during his career, that will be his legacy, and small grip-and-grins like this will be his only chance at lasting fame.

Too bad.