Ban On Pete Rose Lifted

MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred, took Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson and a bunch of other folks off baseball’s “permanently ineligible list”  yesterday using the following logic:

• Rule 21 bans people who bet on baseball; it is there to protect the integrity of the game.
• Once people banned for betting on baseball have died, they can no longer threaten the integrity of the game.
• So, while Rule 21 continues to apply, the purpose served by Rule 21 is rendered moot.

The beneficiary of that decision is the institution – – The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY.  A baseball fan who visits that site today knows for sure that Pete Rose had more base hits than any other person ever to play in the major leagues, but he does not have a plaque in the Hall.  That makes no sense; it made sense while Rose was alive and still involved with gambling and gambling entities, but it makes no sense now that he is dead.  At this point, it is possible for him to be part of the formal history of the game in Cooperstown.  Continuing to exclude him is simply another instance of “cancel culture” which makes some folks feel good but changes nothing.

Before concluding that this action by The Commish cracks open the door for players wearing the “Steroid Label” to get into the Hall of Fame, let me offer one argument”

• Rose bet on baseball and broke Rule 21.  It is not even an airtight case that Jackson did the same.  Neither player enjoyed an enhancement to their career stats as a result of gambling.
• Such is not the case with the “Steroid Guys”.  What they used are called “Performance ENHANCING Drugs”.  Some analytics guru somewhere needs to come up with an algorithm to give weight to such “enhancement”.

Moving on …  There was a comment attached to a rant last week about the Browns drafting Shedeur Sanders as a second QB in the 2025 Draft.  Commenter Rich pointed out that in 1965, the Jets took Joe Namath in the first round of the AFL Draft and took John Huarte in the second round of that Draft.  Since Sanders lasted until the 5^th round this year, it made me wonder if any “fifth round QBs” had ever “made it” in the NFL.  Thanks to Commenter Rich, I went down a rabbit hole.

1. Mark Brunell was a fifth-round pick by the Packers in 1993.
2. Bob Waterfield was a fifth-round pick by the (Cleveland) Rams in 1944.

That is all that I could find for the QB position but in searching through some old Draft lists, there were some extremely good players that came out of the fifth round of NFL Drafts including:

• Stefon Diggs – – Vikes – – 2015
• Kevin Greene – – Rams – – 1985
• Rodney Harrison – – Chargers – – 1994
• Lester Hayes – – Raiders – – 1977
• Tyreek Hill – – Chiefs – – 2016
• Robert Mathis – – Colts – – 2003
• George Kittle – – Niners – – 2017
• Richard Sherman – – Seahawks – – 2011
• Herschell Walker – – Cowboys – – 1985
• Mike Webster – – Steelers – – 1974

One other “fifth rounder” that bears mention here is Dick LeBeau drafted by the Browns in 1959.  Fans today know him as a top-shelf defensive coordinator – – which he was indeed.  However, he was selected for the Hall of Fame as a player well before people recognized him as an outstanding defensive coordinator.

And there you have the distillation of about 5 hours of digging and sifting through lists of fifth round picks thanks to Commenter Rick …

Switching gears …  Here is another potential rabbit hole for me to enter – – but I am not even going to try this one because it would take way more time than it is worth.  So, I will just set the question, offer one possible answer and leave it at that:

• Q:  If the Steelers do not sign Aaron Rodgers or trade for another QB, their QB room will be Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and will Howard.  Is that the least impressive team QB roster ever?
• A:  Maybe not.  Once, the Cowboys’ QB roster was Quincy Carter (starter) with Ryan Leaf and Clint Stoerner as the backups.

            You make the call …

Finally, here is something to ponder:

“The word abbreviation sure is long for what it means.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………