Rob Neyer on the ESPN poll on Pete Rose:
Skipping to Question No. 5, “What is the worst transgression in baseball?” presents four choices. And this is where I lost some hope, because here are the results:
Betting on baseball games 19.5%
Failing to hustle 21.0%
Using steroids 28.7%
Using cocaine 30.8%
Our time on this earthly sphere is finite, so I won’t bother arguing that anybody who voted for “Failing to hustle” over “Betting on baseball games” is a stark raving lunatic. If you actually believe this, I’ve already lost you.
Well, maybe, Rob. But maybe some of those people noticed a critical absence from the poll: throwing games. If some people thought that what Swede Risberg and Lefty Williams did falls closer to “Failing to hustle” than to “Betting on baseball games” (after all, the Black Sox didn’t wager on the series; they were paid to lay down), I’m not gonna argue with them. I’ve beaten this point near to death by this stage, but there is a difference, just like there’s a difference between taking huge campaign contributions from people interested in your decisions and actively selling those decisions for sacks of cash.