There's a new documentary about Pete Rose; specifically, it's about Rose breaking Ty Cobb's record with his 4,192nd hit. That happened in 1985. There is one odd thing about that, though: Today, our best evidence suggests that Cobb actually collected 4,189 hits in his career, not 4,191.
That's not the only odd thing here, though...
No, what's really odd (if not surprising) is that Rose still has the temerity to hint that the transgressions that got him kicked out of Organized Baseball weren't quite as bad as guys using steroids:
Rose, whose most treasured baseball possessions remain his World Series rings, says he doesn't compare his status to that of Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro or any other player who could find himself shut out of Cooperstown because of links to performance-enhancing drugs.
"What I did and what the guys who used stuff did -- they were both bad," Rose says. "People say the most sacred thing about baseball is the records and taking performance-enhancing drugs (impacts that). What I did I did because I wanted my team to win every single night. It was wrong -- absolutely wrong -- but I don't like to compare."
Really? Then don't compare.
But wait, this gets even odder ... As I've argued many times, amphetamines are -- or are believed to be, by the players -- performance-enhancing drugs, and if you think Mr. Hustle didn't gobble pep pills along with most of his teammates in the 1970s, I've got a really old bridge in Cincinnati that I would like to sell you.
Hey, I think Pete Rose deserves another chance, too. Sometimes I just wish he would stop talking.