CLEVELAND, Ohio - Benefit of the doubt? What doubt?
In Cincinnati, outside the Reds' Great American Ballpark, Pete Rose, who got his very own statue recently, was always a wronged man.
The villain was Bart Giamatti, Javert to Rose's Jean Valjean, provided Valjean sold the stolen silverware, rather than return it.
Rose would sell anything -- bats and paraphernalia on cable TV, the name he tarnished by gambling when he would sell his autograph during Hall of Fame Week in Cooperstown, N.Y.; his own blood if there were a vampires' market.
Giamatti
The late Giamatti was the perfect foil for the gritty, blue-collar Rose.