On Pete Rose

So he's out and said it. There's no doubt that Pete Rose bet on baseball games, games involving his own teams (though never against them, he says), and that this was bad for the game. But it seems like he's cleaned up his act, and he wants to be a part of baseball again. And I think baseball could use Pete Rose. We just went through what may have been the best playoffs and world series in my lifetime. But we've also opened up the closet and it's time to confront the drug problem in baseball. What baseball needs is an ambassador, a feel-good story, someone to hawk the game of baseball and keep it in the sun, be a force of positive in what could be a negative time.

In other words, Pete Rose should come back. Let him be baseball's public face. Let him into the hall of fame. But I don't think he belongs in a position to influence the outcome of a game. I have no problem with him teaching skills and things in Spring Training, but when it's game time, he doesn't talk to the players.

More Baseball

And the Phillies community experiences another loss, with Tug McGraw heading to the bullpen in the sky, not soon after Paul Owens left. I don't remember McGraw's playing days, but I've heard that he was one of the people who looked at our house in Philadelphia when we moved out in '87.