Pete's paid admission of the obvious has come to pass. It only took 14 years.

Hallelujah. I guess.

Rose makes Pinocchio look like an amateur. You could walk to the moon on his nose. Does this matter? Should it?

PETE ROSE

DAUGHERTY COLUMN • Truth for sale ENQUIRER EDITORIAL • Rose's confession doesn't change a thing ENQUIRER COVERAGE • He bet on baseball • Rose grooves one for Selig • Rose felt heat in summer of '89 (WEB) • Roadblocks still occupy Rose's Cooperstown path • Gambling problems underestimated • Straight from Pete • Admission brings redemption • Hometown support strong • Rose memorabilia value should remain high • Revelation evokes relief, shock (WEB) • Attention will shift to Selig's decision • What others are saying • Pete Rose timeline (WEB) = Extended version-Web exclusive

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Not unless you think honor has a place on the Cooperstown wall. It's hard to make that case now, what with baseball players juicing, their Popeye bodies on display, their hearts riding the Ephedra train, their drug-testing plan a sham. Honor's a commodity.

So, yes, Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame. It's a museum. It has a front door, not pearly gates. Nobody got more base hits than Peter Edward. Probably, no one ever will. Put him in the Hall. Give him a super-sized plaque, big enough for a detailed explanation as to why he told one story for 14 years and another in January 2004. Keep him away from any job that even remotely sniffs the ballpark grass. And be done with him.

That's an amazing thing to say, isn't it? Dear Pete: Go away.

We wouldn't say that about Emmitt Smith or Dan Marino or Hank Aaron or anyone else whose singular achievement is a defining touchstone of his sport. We'll say it about Rose. Covering his 14-year fraudulence has been a news-hack's necessity in this city. The best thing about his paid confession is, it's one big step on the road to not having to deal with him anymore.

Unless, of course, the Reds at some point commit the unthinkable and hire the mercenary to manage.

Pete Rose is the worst kind of cynic. He preyed willingly on your love for him - or at least for how he played the game. He used your heart as a crowbar, to pry his way back into baseball's big picture. All the while, he lied through his teeth.

"I have too much respect for the game," he said.

"I'm not gonna admit to something that didn't happen," he said.

"Hey, Rog" was how Rose began a previous fairy tale involving his life, one written by Roger Kahn, who must be feeling terrific today. "I'll never lie to you."

"If I were a betting man ..."

Here's a question, Rose loyalists:

How does it feel to be conned for 14-plus years?

Anyone with brain matter and a Dowd Report always had a pretty good idea Rose was finessing the truth. You can't outlast fact the way you can outlast Ty Cobb. Beating the truth isn't a competition. It's immutable. That doesn't mean Rose didn't try.

Pete Rose is, at base, a shameless money-grabber. He is today no different than he was the night of his banishment, Aug. 24, 1989. Hours after his boot from baseball, Rose appeared on a home-shopping channel, selling pieces of his career. Now he's selling pieces of what's left of his honor. Everything, apparently, has a price.

He will spin it the way he has in the past: Baseball is gentle to dopers. Baseball sets them up in rehab. Baseball provides no such treatment for guys who bet on games and lie about it until the cash truck backs up and dumps tall piles of book money in the driveway.

Fact is, baseball would have gotten Rose help. He rejected it. Said he didn't have a problem. Fourteen years of thoughtful reflection have led the Hit King to change his mind. Swell.

Commissioner Bud Selig is said to be conflicted about how to deal with Rose. Why? Reinstate Rose so he can be elected to the Hall of Fame. Tell him he can't work in baseball in any position where he could sway a game. If Rose turns that down, wring your hands and say how sad you are that Pete rejected your olive branch. You're the commissioner. Act like it.

Meantime, check out the ever-changing nature of truth, Pete Rose-style. The book comes out Thursday. It's the gospel. Today.

Pete Rose hasn't reconfigured his life. Just his story.

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E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com

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