Mr. Rose claims he has handwriting and fingerprint evidence proving that baseball's oft-rumored evidence against him is shaky. Baseball quietly claims it has dead-solid proof, and fervently wishes Mr. Rose and his complaints would just slink away. But the arrogant and rude refusal even to respond to Mr. Rose since he applied for reinstatement in 1997 doesn't do any good for Baseball. Regarding the Hall, MLB stands on very shaky ground. Most Americans also believe Mr. Rose bet on baseball, but they perceive that Mr. Rose's Hall of Fame exploits took place before the particular circumstances that precipitated his banishment.
Baseball petulantly refuses to see it that way.
In 1991, it maneuvered to change the Baseball Hall of Fame's long-standing rules, excluding from the ballot anyone under suspension from the game. This ex post facto rule was specifically engineered to punish Mr. Rose retroactively. It never had been applied to anyone else. Now, if it chooses, Baseball can rectify this crass hypocrisy, even while affirming the accuracy of its original punishment. If Hall voters fail to induct him in due course, so be it.