Rule 21

   Baseball great Pete Rose passed away today, as did Basketball great Dikembe Mutombo. Both of those men had steller careers in their respective sports, but one of those men betrayed his sport after his career ended, and the other became an outstanding ambassador for his sport.

   Over the years I've had several discussions with fellow baseball fans regarding Pete Rose being banned from MLB baseball for life for betting on baseball, and his concurrent banishment from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

   For the record I agree with Pete Rose's lifetime ban from baseball and I now also do not believe he belongs in the HoF.

   I was on the fence regarding the HoF issue for a long time (though never questioned for a second the need for the lifetime MLB baseball ban), but after I read his autobiography (My Prison Without Bars, published in 2004) wherein he finally admitted (after 15 years of lying about it) that he did indeed not only bet on baseball games, he bet on baseball games in which the Cincinnati Reds, the team he was the player/manager of, were playing.

   Every MLB clubhouse has Rule 21 of MLB's code of conduct posted in full view of each and every person who enters the clubhouse. Rule 21 states, "Any player, umpire, club or league official or employee who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible." 

   The Rule had been implemented after the 1919 World Series was marred by the actions of several members of the White Sox to throw the Series for a gambling ring allegedly headed up by organized crime figure Arnold Rothstein.

   Pete Rose walked into MLB clubhouses as a player, player/manager, and solely as a manager over a combined 4,200 times. Which means he saw Rule 21 over 4,200 times, and I'd bet big money he even read Rule 21 a significant number of times. 

   Which means that he was well aware that his actions were not only wrong, but at best a big F/U to the game that he swore he loved with his heart and soul.

   Pete Rose believed he was bigger than the game. He was not, and the penalty he agreed to is the one that must stand if the integrity of the game is to be maintained.  

   That's my opinion, and I'm not backing down.