Wednesday night’s post All Star Game version of Costas Now on Home Box Office didn’t have the same fireworks as the last town meeting on the show, when Buzz Bissinger buzzed through the blog world like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But that was only because no one who was there was willing to call Pete Rose on his garbage.
First of all, the debate of whether or not the writers would vote Rose in the Hall of Fame now if he was no longer banned from baseball is moot. He has passed the time limit where he could have been on the ballot for writers, and if he were reinstated into the game, he would go before the veterans committee for consideration. Someone should have made that clear last night. And someone should have also spoke up and said that Rose is far less regarded by Hall of Famers than he is by the writers, and would have tougher shot getting in through the veterans committee. Dave Winfield alluded to it when, answering a question from Costas, he said he has heard from other Hall of Famers in favor and against Rose. That was a qualified way of saying he would be voted down.
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Rose showed his true colors when he was asked by Costas if he would accept being voted into Cooperstown, while still not being allowed to hold a position in the game. It has long been known among current Hall of Famers that the only reason Rose wants reinstatement is that he is convinced he can get a major league managing job, and the only reason he wants that is because baseball managers today can make $3 million to $4 million a year. His answer to Costas was to come out and say he wants to work with young kids in baseball. He didn’t say he would accept the Hall of Fame with any condition that would keep him out of work in baseball. He was exposed, though by now anyone who isn’t wearing rose-colored glasses should be able to see what a fraud he is.
He also stated that the game would be better off with him in it. What an ego.
On another note, it was great to see Willie Mays and Hank Aaron on the final segment. They are the highest royalty in baseball, and every appearance of theirs should be treasured because someday they will just be remembered by films, books, plaques and statues. They are both human and therefore both flawed — Mays has a reputation for being a difficult man to deal with — but there is no denying their greatness; no debate about inflated numbers or such.
One question, though — when this show was initially being promoted by HBO, the segment was to be Aaron, Mays and former Nationals manager Frank Robinson, who is certainly part of that royal class. Yet there was no mention of him last night and he was not part of it. Turns out he was in Washington on Wednesday, at the White House as the honorary commissioner of Wednesday’s T-Ball game on the White House lawn.
- Thom Loverro
