Pete Rose. Is He Still Around?

Yep! Pete’s all over the place. Google “pete rose” and you get over 58 million results. Not as many as Jay-Z, but 57.9999 million more than me.

He recently had a birthday, turning 74 on April 14.

Headlines in 2015 heralded a new phase of the great debate--should he be reinstated, then (perhaps) enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame?

• MLB commissioner to give Pete Rose baseball ban a 'fresh look' (CNBC)
• Why Pete Rose Should Never Be Admitted to the Hall Of Fame (Forbes)
• It’s Time for Baseball to Forgive Pete Rose (Wall Street Journal)
• Cal Ripken Jr. on SI Now: Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame (Sports Illustrated)
• Pete Rose has paid his debt. Let him back into the game (NBC Sports)
• Schilling thinks Pete Rose doesn't deserve to be in Hall of Fame (CSN)

Baseball has had a new commissioner since January 25. Rob Manfred succeeded “Bud” Selig. Talk started immediately after Selig announced his retirement date—would he reinstate Pete Rose on his way out the door? Nope. Bud handed the game ball to Manfred and quietly left the field. Manfred says he will give the case a fresh look. Rose has submitted another formal request for reinstatement. (Headline. Manfred: MLB digging up decades-old files in reviewing Pete Rose case USA Today)

While that unfolds, FOX announced Rose will be a guest analyst on its baseball outlet networks, perhaps becoming the “Charles Barkley of Baseball” - someone who’s funny, knows the game, enjoys conversation and played at a Hall of Fame level. Talk about someone who wants (and needs) to live with the words “humor” and “baseball” in the same sentence.

Not sure what he'll do, but Rose is also in the news for being allowed to participate in 2015 All Star Game festivities.

Of course it’s biased, but Rose attempts to make a case for his reinstatement in his book My Prison Without Bars. Reading it, I have a renewed appreciation for his contribution to and love of the sport. Charlie Hustle is exactly right. He was a player who would give 100% in a game, then loved the challenge of playing the other half of a doubleheader at 100%. Of course, he talks extensively about gambling. I’m not a doctor, so he may or may not fit the clinical description of a compulsive gambler.

Maybe addiction wasn’t the issue and it was a hobby as he says. That hobby, though, drew a crowd of associates and hustlers that, at the least, never served his image well. Remember, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays were both suspended from baseball (albeit temporarily) for merely associating with gamblers and casino executives, not actual betting. That might really be the driver against reinstatement—tampering with the image of the sport. That's another debate: how much does a player's off-field life influence decisions about entering the Hall of Fame? There has been one peek into his recent personal life in the reality show Hits and the Mrs. I didn't see it (it lasted only six episodes in 2013), but those who have generally shake their heads and leave it at: Pete lives by Pete's rules.

Whether or not he makes it into the Hall of Fame, his on-field stats will be in the record books *without asterisks*.

Check out a few books and DVDs on Pete Rose from the library's collections, or works on the Cincinnati Reds, including the famous Game 6 of the 1975 World Series (here or here).