"America's Email"....THERE IS NO GREATNESS.....WHERE THERE IS NOT
SIMPLCITY......GOODNESS...AND TRUTH.... ~ WELCOME to the Friday "Field of Dreams
Today"...The email that never bets
on baseball.... ~ THIS DAY in 1990 The Hubble Telescope was launced....


~ THE WAY WE Were....At Peninsula we had
a stadium built in 1947..And a scoreboard that should have been in a
museum....On the surface it looked OK..We painted it every year and
had a nice team logo on it..But it was outdated...Not made anymore -
including parts....So what do you do when parts go bad...Well first
you take the AT BAT parts and paint over that area...Than you take
the light that shows what team was up to bat.....Now you are getting
low on parts..So you take the extra 10th inning
parts....So everything is working now right?? Yes..Until it
rains..THAN the 2nd and 3rd inning just disappear....Lights
Out....Until it drys up....From "Big League Dreams".... ~

~ DID YOU KNOW That JIM DERRINGTON was the
youngest player in the American League to get a hit...The Year was
1956....His age was 16.... ~

The following is the editorial
piece I had published in several newspapers in 2004...I still feel the same
way......




Baseball legend Pete Rose came out with his new book "Prision without
bars'' last week. After agreeing to a lifetime suspension from
baseball more than a decade ago he now finally admits that he did
indeed wager bets on baseball. He bet on the very team he was
managing, the Cincinnati Reds. Rose says he only bet on his team to
win and never from his stadium office but from his home. This
admission comes after years of denial that he ever bet on baseball.
Why now? What makes his timing so special? One reason is probably
because he needs the money and this book will sell alot of copies.
But the main reason is probably because his normal eligiblity to
Baseball's Hall of Fame runs out in 2 years.After that he would have
to face the Veterans committee which is much more strick than the
normal voting process. Since he must first be reinstated to baseball
before he can be nominated to the Hall of Fame he is putting on the
all out push to get back in. The question is should he?
There is no doubt that Pete Rose has the stats to be in the Hall of
Fame. No player has accomplished so much with determination than Pete
Rose. He was not a natural raw talent performer. He had to work for
everything he did.I was with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980 when
the Phils won their one and only World Championship. We would have
not done that without Pete Rose. I have met Pete Rose. He's a good
guy. But does that excuse what he did? Does baseball give Rose a pass
and still ban "Shoeless" Joe Jackson? Jackson was a member of the
eight "Black Sox" - the name given the Chiacgo White Sox after the
baseball betting scandal in 1919. Many of us think he had no or very
little part of that scandal. He had an outstanding World Series and
it does not appear he threw any game.Yet he was never reinstated or
made a member of the Hall.
Baseball rule 21(D) "Betting on ballgames by any player,umpire,club
or league official or employee who shall bet any sum whatsovever upon
a baseball game which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be
declared PERMANENTLY ineligible" This poster in large letters is in
every dugout and locker room in pro baseball. From rookie league
minor league baseball to major league baseball. I, like Rose, signed
a form every season agreeing that we would never bet on baseball.
Some ask why betting in baseball is such a big issue. The fact is
that baseball was almost destroyed in 1919 when the Chicago White Sox
had eight players that bet and threw the World Series. Had
Commissioner Landis not stepped in and acted with the resolve that he
did baseball may have died because the public would have never
regained faith.And Baseball would have never regained it's integrity.
Pete Rose was betting on his team,the Reds, and managing them. While
he may have bet on them to win he still could have made decisions
that were based on his gambling. Changing of the lineup. Taking a
pitcher out to early or leaving them in to long. Starting a player
that is hurt that really should not be playing. All of these and more
are possible and probably did factor in. This is totally
unacceptable.As manager he had total control of these decisions.As a
member of the baseball family these actions strongly offend me.

The American people are a forgiving group. If Pete had admitted his
problem a decade ago and started to make ammends he perhaps would be
back in baseball. Instead he blamed baseball. He blamed his former
friends. He lied to the American public and his former teammates. He
disgraced himself and hurt America's pastime.Also why not come out in
a public setting and admit this instead of writing a book where he
profits from the announcement? Perhaps he should have all the
proceeds of the book go to a gambling addiction program. But this is
not the case. Even if he does not get back into baseball he will
still make money on the book.
I do believe that he has a sickness and that the gambling addiction
is a disease. But even so he still must face the actions of that
addiction and what he did. To this day he has not.
So should Pete Rose be allowed back into baseball - NO. Should Pete
Rose be allowed in the Hall of Fame - NO. I am not saying ever but
this is not the time. Rose needs to give back to all the people he
lied to. He needs to realize the damage he did to the integrity of
baseball. One day he may be ready to again be a part of the baseball
family. But I am a part of the baseball family and for now I say no.
And that's my Field of Dreams.






PULL The Tarps.....It Takes Two To Speak Truth...One To Speak..And
Another To Hear.....That's my Field of Dreams Today...Be Safe...Be
Brave....Have a Great weeken....AND.Never Let Go.."Sic Semper Tyrannis"...Let's
Roll!!


~ "God Bless the USA" ~ PO Box 105 Nottoway,VA 23955 - 434-247-6143 -
Email Fax 253-484-6438 -http://JohnGraham.net - Notary Public - Inductee -
Chairman Peninsula Pro Baseball Hall of Fame - Member Marquis Who's Who in
America 1993-2007 ~Proud Lifetime Member- Major League Baseball Alumni - Minor
League Baseball Alumni Assoc - Assoc of Pro Ballplayers of America - Sons of
Confederate Veterans - S.A.B.R. Society for American Baseball Research ~ Kiwanis
- Moose -American Legion Auxillary -"Sic Semper Tyrannis" -Sports Editor Crewe
Burkevill Journal -Assoc Sports info Director WMBG Radio- "Ne Oublie" ~ Let's
Roll!! ~







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