Exiled Major League Baseball all-time hits leader Pete Rose finally went one comment too far.
Ever since the Biogenesis scandal that caused the suspensions of multiple baseball players this season, Rose has been asked for his opinion on the situation. The phrase "beating my wife" had never been uttered until Monday.
Rose has made every attempt to say the right things, talking about understanding his lifetime banishment for betting on baseball when he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds, showing contrition and even backing MLB against the accused players - especially New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez.
Through it all, he has talked with a hint of asking that the ban be lifted.
In a radio interview Monday with a Pittsburgh radio station, 93.7 The Fan, Rose again made an attempt to show the irony of his lifetime ban compared to other discretions when he inevitably crossed the line.
"You have to understand, I don't call these guys to do shows, they call me," Rose said. "And of course with all this steroid talk and the 12 guys being suspended and A-Rod appealing, they want my input because I'm suspended for life. Hey, everything is a different case. I made mistakes. I can't whine about it. I'm the one that messed up and I'm paying the consequences. However, if I am given a second chance, I won't need a third chance. And to be honest with you, I picked the wrong vice. I should have picked alcohol. I should have picked drugs or I should have picked up beating up my wife or girlfriend because if you do those three, you get a second chance. They haven't given too many gamblers second chances in the world of baseball."
While denouncing Rose's equating domestic violence with drinking or drug use, USA Today agreed that Rose's argument has merit because dishonorable people have been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but gambling is the one vice that is unforgivable.
The problem with Rose's logic, however, is that it could be interpreted that he could live with being a wife-beater as long as he was in the Hall of Fame.
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