Cincinnati Reds continue to honor Pete Rose now that he’s in their Hall of Fame

Once MLB allowed the Cincinnati Reds to have Pete Rose onto the GABP field, the flood gates opened.

The Cincinnati Reds have been angling for years for a way to justify a larger presence of the suspended hit king Pete Rose in Great American Ballpark.  When MLB allowed Rose to be on the field when he was inducted into the Reds’ Hall of Fame, the Reds decided to keep the honors coming.  The next honor will be Rose’s addition to current seven statues that adorn the outside of GABP.

Rose’s statue will be of his iconic head first slide.  His helmet will be off his head, but how they’ll suspend that in mid-air is a mystery.  This is the exact sort of acknowledgement Rose wants.  He is still asking the Hall of Fame to let him in.

He will join other former Big Red Machine teammates in Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, and Joe Morgan with statues.  There are also statues of Joe Nuxhall, Frank Robinson, Ernie Lombardi and Ted Kluszewski, which were the first four there.  Now Rose joins the seven most illustrious members of the Cincinnati Reds’ family.

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The dedication will take place in the middle of June.  In 2016 a whole weekend in June was dedicated to celebrating Rose.  June will be Rose month for the Reds going forward, apparently.

Despite that the Reds want to honor Rose, baseball will never accept him so long as he lives.

Pete Rose did the unimaginable.  He bet on baseball.  He did it when he played and when he managed.

That is the second worst thing as far as MLB thinks.  The absolute worst is fixing games.  There is no coming back from what Pete did.

The Reds need to realize this.  Much of what they are doing now is to honor the members of the aging fans of the Big Red Machine.  With the current state of the team that isn’t the worst idea ever.

The public relations department for the Reds needs to remember that there are younger fans all around.  They remember Eric Davis and Billy Hatcher.  They think Jose Rijo was the best postseason pitcher in Reds’ history, although there are many other options including all-time great Don Gullett.

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Then there’s the current set of fans.  They wonder if Rose could hold a light to Joey Votto.  They thought Aroldis Chapman was the best reliever ever.  Todd Frazier or Scott Rolen?  Which is the best Reds’ third baseman?  It used to be Willie Greene or Ray Knight.  Finally, the Reds need to honor Rose now before there aren’t enough people to tell their favorite Rose story.