Baseball bad boy Pete Rose has been nominated for induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame!
Relax.
The guy who gambled his way out of the major league baseball loop merely remains on the list of candidates from a couple of years ago, when he was nominated by a Vancouver fan. He can remain on the ballot a total of nine years.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., ruled Rose ineligible for inclusion by a 12-0 vote 14 years ago, not long after he was banned from participation in the majors because of gambling that included wagers involving his Cincinnati Reds.
He was nominated for the Canadian hall in St. Marys as a result of his time with the Montreal Expos. You may be sure other Expos will continue to get in but not baseball's all-time hits leader.
By the Dec. 31 deadline, there were 60 nominees the 16-member selection committee will be considering. Inductees will be announced Feb. 25.
So, who will it be? Hall president and CEO Tom Valcke can only offer an opinion, since he has no vote.
"There are 10 new ones, and five of them are what I'd call grassroots guys," Valcke says. "That's the most pleasing thing to me, that (the hall) is not just about who we've seen on television."
The minor league nominees from across the country include Jack Domenico, longtime operator of the Intercounty Toronto Maple Leafs.
Among the five former major leaguers nominated are John Cerutti, who passed away recently; Paul Molitor and Dave Stieb. If Valcke had a vote, there are a few he'd like to see in.
"There's always been a side of me that would like to see (Tommy) Lasorda and (Sparky) Anderson inducted," Valcke said of the former Montreal Royals and Toronto Maple Leafs International League player/managers.
This round of inductions will be much quieter for Valcke than two years ago when the Rose episode exploded. At the time, he suggested the nomination of Rose, one of 15 players ruled ineligible by Cooperstown over the years (none reinstated) might place some focus on the Canadian hall.
He couldn't have been more correct. Media calls from around the continent poured in, many mistakenly thinking Rose had been inducted.
The man known as Charlie Hustle has always been news, from the time he was sliding head-first on base steals to his massive 4,256 hits, at-bats, games-played and .303 batting average to beyond, when he was subject of a six-month investigation that showed he had gambled regularly on baseball and other sports, including wagers involving the Reds.
Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 and, two years later, ruled ineligible for the Cooperstown ballot.
Valcke's only brush with controversy recently was again the result of honestly giving his opinion -- about the suspect financial health of the ball hall, which was seeking $5 million for expansion. While his glum forecast raised some directors' eyebrows, it also got another response when a corporate donor and a philanthropic individual made substantial donations.
Which brings up another question put to Valcke:
How much do major league baseball and its many millionaires, as one writer penned to The Free Press recently, ante up for an institution that is such an obvious asset to its game?
Not enough, he felt, while pleased with the $153,000 the league coughed up a couple of years ago, when hall member and Canadian nationalist Paul Beeston had his hands near the levers of power.
"I agree they could do more," Valcke said. "Some owners don't care about who is going to be watching games 20 years from now because they won't be owning teams 20 years from now."
For now, the only concern around the hall is that of the selection committee members sorting through the nominees.
And no, they aren't worried about inducting Pete Rose.
