The Pete Rose Mafia

The other night Kate and I were celebrating our 1st anniversary with a dinner outside (but under the heat lamps, yes, we are California wimps) in downtown Mountain View. Afterwards, while walking down the main street in town back to our car, we were approached by a man who sported a vaguely homeless person-like large grey beard, but was clearly more clean shaven and polished than your average hobo, and this is Mountain View we're talking about. So, as this guy walks up to us I'm expecting a cash solicitation but instead the conversation went something like this:

Man: "Hey, do you think Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame?"

Tom: "Well, I guess I'd probably have to say no..."

Man, to Kate: "And how about you?"

Kate: "Uhhh... Sure!"

Man, excited: "Good! He definitely should be sent to the Hall! He has SIXTEEN major league records! He IS baseball history and needs to be in the Hall of Fame! Everyone agrees..."

Man goes on about Pete Rose and his mission to get him into Cooperstown, and explains there is a website where people can vote for one of three options, apparently of what "people" should do on this subject:

1. People should withhold all Rose-related memorabilia from the Hall of Fame until he is inducted
2. No change, i.e. status-quo on his purgatorial state (I guess)
3. Ban Pete forever from the Hall of Fame

In addition to voting he also implored us to not visit Cooperstown on the 14th of every month (ok, no problem) and withhold our own memorabilia from the Hall of Fame until he is enshrined (also shouldn't be an issue). So after a few minutes of mostly one-sided but entertaining conversation about Pete Rose's merits as a fixture of baseball history, we asked what the website was. He gave us the following, making sure to write "Pete Rose" on the card so we wouldn't forget what we were talking about:

What a great business card. We never would have guessed our local Pete Rose advocate was also an author, editor, WebMaster, and, of course singer. Don't forget about his being a world traveler from California. I guess this would qualify as another "only in California" moment.

So if you are curious, the website listed there has plenty of gems in addition to the Pete Rose thing. Ideas for humanity indeed. One thing that particularly cracked me up was that in the span of a 900 word "article" there are references to Pete Rose as

• Charlie Hustle
• Mr. Hits
• Mr. Games Played
• Mr. At Bats
• Mr. Hall of Fame
• Mr. Hustle (twice)
  
• Mr. Switch Hitter
• Mr. Consecutive
• Mr. Winning Games Played
• Mr. Walks (?)
  
• Mr. Five Positions
• Mr. Player of the 70s

Notably absent are any references to Mr. Rose as

• Mr. $10,000 per Game
  
• Mr. Umpire Shove
  
• Mr. Tax Evasion
• Mr. Permanent Ineligibility
  
• Mr. 15 Year Lie
• Mr. Wrestlemania XIV

So, what do you think? Pete Rose, in or out?