Upon Further Review: Baseball gives Rose no respect
Major League Baseball playoffs are just around the corner, and soon another season will come to an end.
For some teams the season might as well be over, and for some they will finish the rest of their games on the road. On Sunday the Cincinnati Reds closed out their home schedule with a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3. And with that loss, they also closed the chapter on the place where they have played for the last 32 years.
Cinergy Field — as it’s called today, but better known as Riverfront Stadium — will be torn down and become no more than a parking lot, like so many of the stadiums which were built in the late ’60s and ’70s.
The ballpark opened with a loss in 1970 as Riverfront Stadium and closed with another loss under a different name. Riverfront had the first wall-to-wall turf and sliding pits when it opened, and became known as the home of names like Bench, Seaver, Perez and Rose, the birthplace of the famous Big Red Machine and the setting for decades of baseball history.
The Cincinnati Reds watched as 40,000 people said good-bye to the old ballpark on Sunday.
The Reds invited and introduced 52 luminaries from their Riverfront days on the field, and all the greats that have ever played for the team were there to show their appreciation to the fans and the town of Cincinnati.
But the one man who helped make the Big Red Machine become one of the greatest ball teams ever wasn’t even asked to be there.
Pete Rose, the all-time hit king with 4,256, was unable to be part of the ceremonies on Sunday.
You see, Rose is banned from baseball and cannot have anything to do with MLB. He wasn’t even allowed to just stand on the field with the rest of his old teammates on Sunday.
The Reds asked baseball for permission to include Rose in the ceremonies, but were turned down. OK, then why not just do it anyway? the man at least deserves to be part of something he helped build.
Major League Baseball said if Rose took part of the ceremonies they would face major penalties, such as fines, firings or loss of draft picks.
How stupid is this?
The first hit at Riverfront Stadium was a single by Rose. My childhood hero, Hank Aaron, hit the first home run at Riverfront and also tied Babe Ruth’s record there four years later.
On Sunday as the crowd chanted “Pete! Pete!” Tom Browning, a pitcher for Cincinnati in the ’80s, walked to the mound and spray-painted the number “14,” and one red rose was left behind home plate during the game in honor of Rose.
• OK, enough about baseball for right now. What in the world happen to Tennessee Saturday as they faced Florida? It looked like Tennessee had never played the game of football before. The offensive line and running game were both major disappointments. Tennessee had only 18 rushes for 42 yards in the first half.
Cedric Houston was banged up a little, but Tennessee has three other top-quality running backs and is known for its running game. Yes, they ran the ball, but they kept going to the fullback.
With the wet conditions Tennessee was supposed to out-run Florida by keeping the ball on the ground. Oh, that’s right, we did keep the ball on the ground. They couldn’t even take a snap from center without a problem. Three times in a row the ball hit the ground because they couldn’t even make a simple exchange from center to quarterback.
They had two weeks of preparation and 31-13 was the best they could do?