A door opened in Cincinnati earlier this season that created a window for the Phillies next season. In case you missed it, the Reds, with a blessing from Major League Baseball that had been absent for more than a quarter of a century, inducted Pete Rose into their Hall of Fame in late June.
It was the right thing for commissioner Rob Manfred to do and the logical next step for the Phillies is to use the previously blocked opportunity to put Rose into their equivalent of the Reds Hall of Fame. That, of course, is the Wall of Fame, the spot behind the ivy-covered batter's eye in center field at Citizens Bank Park that received its 63rd member Friday when Jim Thome's plaque was added to the wall.