Thirty-two years ago today, Bart Giamatti banished Pete Rose. In the name of honor and integrity and all that’s good about baseball and could be again, the commissioner showed Rose the door, then slammed it shut behind him.
Nothing has changed regarding Rose’s status as a baseball non-person. Even as everything has changed.
I know, I know. I hear you. Half the ball fans are permanently weary of Rose talk. The other half were barely born by Aug. 24, 1989. But Rose’s ban remains the story of my (gulp) 33-year career here.