Opening Letter

July 3, 2007

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner
245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
(212) 931-7800

Dear Mr. Commissioner:

I’m writing to you as a lifelong fan of the game of baseball, Major League Baseball and the Kansas City Royals. Baseball is again on the rise in our country. I think many fans’ wounds are healing from the soured experience of the strike-shortened season of 1994. Folks are accepting the revenue sharing, and developing a small understanding of the astronomical financial situations within the game. These are but few of the issues your league deals with on a daily basis. Athlete behavior both on and off the field, manager personality quirks and slip-ups, speculations of performance-enhancement usage are all topics that swirl media outlets. None of these, however, are the reason for my letter.

I believe that, all hometown dreams and biases aside, there is one figure that set the bar for my appreciation of the game as a child, a measuring stick I still hold firm today. That figure is none other than Pete Rose.

Perhaps a tired topic for you and your colleagues, but most folks don’t care that he bet on baseball; most folks are aware that other former MLB athletes bet on baseball throughout their careers. Most folks know that Rose can be a jerk, that he spent far too much time lying when he could’ve simply told the truth.

I say, let the errors of this man be a thing of the past. Give baseball the push that could send it over the edge in this time of resurgence. Unban the man. At least make him eligible. No single figure -- not even George Brett -- has had a greater influence on my view of how the game should be played. I posit there are many others out there that feel the same. The things he is guilty of are small apples compared to some of the happenings in the National Football League and the National Basketball Association.

I beg you to consider at least taking the first step. Let today’s and tomorrow’s kids see Rose’s name in the record books, in Cooperstown.