A.J. PIERZYNSKI SLAMS MLB OVER PETE ROSE HALL OF FAME ELIGIBILITY & IT'S HILARIOUS!

It's funny, because I never really imagined a moment that I would agree with A.J. Pierzynski on anything baseball related. I also thought of him as polarizing. He's been very vocal about a lot of issues in baseball and that is especially true about another polarizing name in the sport....Pete Rose.

There's been a lot of chatter about Rose recently. Now that he is reinstated for Hall of Fame consideration it's been a major topic at my dinner table and here at BYB, read PETE ROSE IS ELIGIBLE, BUT WILL THE WRITERS DO THE RIGHT THING? It's a polarizing topic. There are very strong opinions on both sides.

So, what's A.J's beef now? Well, he went on Foul Territory this week and didn't hold back at all. He believes Rose should NOT be reinstated. I know many people who are on both sides of the argument. His argument is that article 21 of MLB's Rule Book prohibits players and coaches from betting on baseball. If that was the argument he wanted to stick with I wouldn't be laughing as I am now. Check out the video clip below.

There's a real hole in this argument for me. As soon as he ran with the "You can't have the integrity of the game questioned at all" is where it went sideways for me. Has he been living under a rock? Serious question because this sport has lost all of its innocence. The integrity went out the window a long time ago. Let's just go back to the steroid era, shall we? Is Barry Bonds so long ago that baseball got a "get out of jail free" pass and I missed the memo? I mean, he and Bonds were playing at the same time from 1998-2007 so it's not like it's ancient history. It happened, while AJ was getting his feet wet on the big league stage and it's a huge part of history. 

Let's fast forward to 2017. It's a topic I will NEVER let go of but the Houston Astros literally cheated their way to a World Series Championship. Trash can signals and buzzers are NOT part of the game, AJ. Integrity went out the window there. To make it worse, after Carlos Beltran is named one of the leaders of this cheating scandal the same time he is in consideration for a Manager role with the Mets? So you cheat, you work your way up to a manager gig. That's the message sent here. If you ain't cheatin, you ain't tryin? The Mets only "mutually agreed" to part ways with him after details came out which was a horrible message to send. They changed their mind to save their hide. I have despised the Mets more just for that alone. It was completely tone deaf.

And what about Alex Cora? The equally tone deaf Red Sox hired him for 2018 & 2019 knowing he was implicated in the cheating scandal, then took a brief step back to let the dust settle and let Ron Roenicke manage in 2020 and then reunite with Cora again in 2021 and ever since. What a minor slap on the wrist for a guy that was involved in the biggest cheating scandal in decades and then put him in charge of a different team. Integrity gone....

Oh and to make it more disturbing the General Manager of the Astros at that time Jeff Luhnow lost his job after the scandal. He's not back in the baseball world. In fact he is the CEO of Blue Crow Sports Group, which owns several soccer clubs, including Leganés in Spain and Cancún FC in Mexico. The guy with the least amount of involvement with the scandal not even around the team every day like Cora was and he pays the ultimate price. Integrity gone....

And last but certainly not least....you can't talk about gambling without talking about the Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal that rocked baseball last year. It was alleged that his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, stole millions of dollars from the star to pay off massive gambling debts. Shohei denies placing any bets or paying off any bookies and it's funny how the money just disappeared without being detected, huh? Because are we supposed to be that nieve to believe the person who is in charge of Shohei's personal finances just didn't notice that massive amount of money just magically vanished into thin air? Apparently, because AJ himself came out in defense of Shohei saying there was no evidence to prove he was in fact gambling. So, it's okay for his money to be used on betting even if he didn't bet himself? Come on....if "you can't have the integrity of the game questioned at all" why is this any different?

If Pete Rose can't be reinstated for betting on games when he was a manager, why is it okay for Ohtani to be accused of it as a player and have no consequences even though his money was used? If the integrity of the game can't be questioned at all then this is no exception and it's hypocritical. By the way, Ippei took the fall for this and in February was sentenced to 5 years in prison over it....but he's not actually sitting in prison yet. His sentence has been pushed back, read more HERE. 

So yeah, A.J and I agree that the integrity of the game can't be questioned at all. If the ban is good for Rose, it should've been good for Ohtani, too but you can't really ban the new face of baseball can you?He brings international draw. Unfortunately, the integrity of the game has been questioned many times, and will continue to be (especially under Rob Manfred's command). 

We agree on the sentiment, but AJ is oblivious to how un-innocent baseball really is. His argument is a swing and a miss. It did give me a good laugh though.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj