Pete Rose was held accountable. Now it's time to forgive

I told Commissioner Manfred that I felt privileged to represent Pete pro bono because it was retribution for the way he had been the link between my father and me and made the city of Cincinnati thrive. He brought us together as one. He gave us joy, excitement and closeness. Whether intentional or not, I love that you enter Great American Ball Park via Pete Rose Way. It was and always will be like this Pete Rose's Art that we see the game at its best.

The commissioner – and those before him – refused to lift Pete's decades-long ban from any participation or the fabricated rule that applied only to him and Joe Jackson that he was ineligible for the Hall of Fame. This really hurt Pete, every day of his life. Commissioner Selig sent his two highest-ranking officers to speak with Pete, and when he broke down and thought about how much he had disgraced himself and, he believed, his father, they told him that they were recommending reinstatement would. Selig rejected him without explanation some time later. To his credit, Manfred said he turned Pete down but made it clear he could still be considered for the Hall of Fame. But that was an empty gesture. When we spoke to the head of the Hall of Fame, he told us the door was closed. Pete couldn't even show up for an interview.

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The test Pete had to pass was that he had not “reconfigured his life.” That was the condition that Commissioner Bart Giamatti had insisted on in order for Pete to get back into the game. I could see that if reconfiguration meant understanding the seriousness of what he had done and persevering, that was exactly what Pete had done. This was not an easy task. Pete enriched the lives of the people he met through his genuine interest in their lives, pausing to listen to their stories about baseball and being inspired by his exploits. It was amazing how many lives he had been a special part of. At the same time, I wondered who should be the judge of our path in life as long as we didn't hurt anyone.

Of course, the Hall of Fame is not the place where anyone wants to learn about perfect men. This includes or will include impostors who have broken rules about what they can put in their bodies or how they might steal other teams' secrets, perpetrators of domestic violence and, most importantly, vicious racists. What rational entitlement allowed these men to get away and not Pete? If the Hall of Fame is determined by loyalty to the sanctity of the game – and it is not – Pete was hardly at the top of the list of those who brought shame to baseball.