"We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special alert, brought to you by Draft Kings: Pete Rose has died."
This society is saturated with legal gambling, to the point that large corporations like Draft Kings routinely advertise during sports events and broadcasters often give spreads during football games. Total, vengeful, Talmudic type hypocrisy to have kept Rose out of Cooperstown all these years. The only justification would have been if Pete had bet against his teams, and he was never accused of that.
Ty Cobb's hits record used to be considered one of those famous "unbreakable" ones that fans loved to argue about. Well, Rose broke it and now his mark appears unbreakable. Ichiro may have topped it if he had played his entire career in the U.S., but he didn't and there's no one playing now or in the conceivable near future who will. Pete's 4,256 career hits have stood for nearly 40 years and may stand forever. It's a remarkable record if you think about it -- a player could get 200 hits for 20 straight seasons and still be 256 hits short.
Pete Rose personified hustle and effort. He was also a man of the people, beloved by working men around the country, not just in Cincinnati even though he was a bit of an arrogant jerk at times. All men are flawed. He was also one of the greatest players ever, one who lacked power and top shelf athleticism yet still made himself into a legend.
I remember Pete Rose as a presence from my earliest memories as I loved baseball with a passion, until he retired in 1986 after a 24 year career. He was one of a kind, and was treated most unkindly and unfairly by baseball's PTB, and also by the always lockstep corporate media. RIP