Warszawski: Pete Rose’s baseball ban should come with Hall pass

Enter the Warzone, stuffing our stockings with holiday jeer.

▪ For 15 years Pete Rose consistently denied betting on baseball – only to change his story in his 2004 autobiography.

Since then Rose has maintained he placed bets while managing the Reds but never as a player. Even though there’s strong evidence to the contrary.

Let baseball’s all-time hit king sit on a TV set. Allow him to take part in on-field ceremonies. But no way, no how, should Rose have anything to do with on-field play.

He’s lied too many times.

▪ At first Rose told Major League Commissioner Rob Manfred that he continued to gamble on horse racing and other pro sports, including baseball, but only after denying it first.

Sounds like a re-Pete.

▪ That said, there’s no reason why Rose should be barred from the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame is a museum, not a shrine of virtue. Just engrave “confessed to betting on baseball” or “accepted lifetime ban for gambling” on his plaque so everyone knows what’s what.

▪ The Giants continued the NL West arms race by signing Johnny Cueto to a reported six-year contract worth $130 million.

Madison Bumgarner, Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Jake Peavy and Matt Cain/Chris Heston – now that’s a World Series-worthy rotation.

▪ The Cueto and Samardzija signings don’t guarantee the Giants will win their fourth title in six seasons.

But if there was such a thing as a World Series of Hair, they’d be locks.

▪ Your move, Dodgers.

Baseball’s wealthiest franchise sure picked an odd time to play cheapskate.

▪ Can’t believe so many people are angry about Serena Williams being named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year.

Stephen Curry and Jordan Spieth have legitimate arguments. But a horse? Neigh.

▪ The Raiders’ 2014 draft haul of Khalil Mack (first round), Derek Carr (second) and Gabe Jackson (third) may go down as the best in team history.

Not too often does a team land its franchise quarterback, a road-grading guard and the second coming of Derrick Thomas all on the same day.

▪ Looks like someone grossly overestimated the 49ers’ rise to mediocrity.

As much as CEO Jed York would like to keep his handpicked coach (Jim Tomsula) in place for more than one season, losing by two touchdowns to the worst team in football will make that extremely difficult.

▪ Wednesday marks the first day college football teams can sign players who can enroll for spring semester and take part in spring football.

You can tell by the giant “Help Wanted” sign hanging outside the Duncan Building.

▪ Fresno State linebacker James Bailey recorded 47 tackles last season – fifth most in the Mountain West Conference among true freshmen.

Bailey had only 49 fewer tackles than Nevada freshman safety Asauni Rufus, a Bakersfield product whom Fresno State didn’t bother recruiting.

▪ Houston football coach Tom Herman will be fitted with a diamond grill on his teeth, fulfilling a promise to his players if they won the American Athletic Conference title.

For his sake, let’s hope diamonds aren’t forever.

▪ California will crown 13 state champions in high school football.

Hope everyone gets orange slices and participation trophies, too.

▪ For no particular reason: Bobby Grich.

▪ To honor a sizable donation made by Russell Westbrook, UCLA will hand out complimentary eyeglass frames to everyone who attends the Bruins’ Pac-12 opener Jan. 7.

Just be sure to save a few for the officials.

▪ Jose Canseco on Twitter: “By my calculations if we nuked the polar ice caps on Mars we would make an ocean of 36 feet across the whole planet.”

Show your work, Jose. For the love of comedy and aerospace engineering, please show your work.

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Warszawski: Pete Rose’s baseball ban should come with Hall pass."