The best thing that the Phillies can say about their 2022 Alumni Weekend is that they probably won’t have to go through that again. After Pete Rose spent Sunday reconfirming that, at age 81, he possesses the same Neanderthalic qualities that he had at 31 — and 41, and 51, and on and on — the Phillies’ decision-makers could at least take heart that the 50th anniversary of the franchise’s 1980 World Series team was eight years away. There’s no need to invite Rose back to Citizens Bank Park between now and then, and come 2030, there presumably will be fewer people around who remember Rose and, assuming he is alive and available, would want to see him return. Pete Rose? Eh. No thanks. Besides, that championship was a half-century ago, babe.
Of course, anyone with a passing familiarity with Rose knew or should have known that his presence threatened to ruin the event. That was true in 2017, when the Phillies rescinded plans to induct him into their Wall of Fame after a woman accused him in a lawsuit of having a sexual relationship with her in the 1970s before she had turned 16, and it was true Sunday. As it turned out, Rose’s presence also drew people’s attention away from the team’s dominance of the lowly Washington Nationals — the Phillies outscored them 36-12 over a four-game sweep — and the club’s recent excellent performance. The Phillies are 60-48, are 20 games over .500 since June 1, and have inched ahead of the go-big-or-go-to-the-beach San Diego Padres for the National League’s second wild-card spot.
Considering the relative weakness of their remaining schedule, the moves that general manager Dave Dombrowski made at the trade deadline, and the impending return of Bryce Harper, the Phillies should keep up this high level of play. If they do, they would qualify for the postseason for the first since 2011, ending the second-longest playoff drought in Major League Baseball. But there would be another, longer-lasting benefit for the franchise, too, one that helps address the question that defined Sunday’s controversy:
