It's a Shame the Man Won't Sign Who He Is

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner
245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
(212) 931-3800

Dear Mr. Commissioner:

I write to you today in the form of interrogation. The Kansas City Star published a little blip in today’s edition saying that Pete Rose made his usual appearance in Cooperstown this weekend to sign autographs. The paper reported that Rose and former Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt share the same autograph “shop.”


While that tidbit is interesting, I found it even more peculiar that Rose’s “menu” states that he won’t sign anything “Charlie Hustle” or “I’m sorry I bet on baseball.” That, to say the least, is bizarre.


The reason that I’ve been such a Pete Rose fan all of my life was for the very reason he was tagged with that moniker. I loved it as a kid, and love it now. It embodies how he played the game, how coaches wanted their kids and fathers wanted their sons to play the game. It reflects how I did play the game. I hustled. Every time I made contact, I tore out of the batter’s box. Each occasion in which I was given the steal signal, I lit out like it was 90 feet for safety or else. For every sharply hit ball to me in left or center, I sprinted, and sometimes dove to make the out.




And you just don’t see that in players anymore. Rose shouldn’t be embarrassed to sign autographs with those words. He shouldn’t be castigated for them either. In fact, he shouldn’t have to set up shop; he should be sitting there with all of the other Hall-of-Famers, applauding the new inductees. How long must we wait for this to become a reality? The punishment has been served. It’s time Rose visited Cooperstown annually the same way the rest of the former athletes and journalists do: as a member.