PITTSBURGH — The Philadelphia Phillies planned on putting Pete Rose on their Wall of Fame in August 2017 but canceled his scheduled appearance after a Cincinnati woman testified in federal court that she had a sexual relationship with him when she was 14 or 15. Rose admitted to an affair with the woman but said she was 16 when it started in the early-1970s. He wasn't charged with statutory rape because the statute of limitations had expired.
Now, the Phillies are trying again to honor Rose, baseball's all-time leader with 4,256 hits. They have invited him to attend an Aug. 7 celebration of their 1980 World Series championship team at Citizens Bank Park.
Apparently, the Phillies are ignoring one inconvenient fact: