As I've previously mentioned, I like Pete Rose, and I want him in the Hall of Fame. But he has this truth problem that makes it difficult for even ardent supporters to stand by him sometimes.

In the recent swirl of publicity, Rose has been taking some heat for detracting from the announcement of this year's Hall of Fame electees.

Pete's response, from an official statement on his website:

At this time I would like to personally congratulate the newest Hall of Fame Members, Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley. I never intended to diminish the exciting news for these deserving players. The scheduled launch date for this book, established many months ago, was Thursday January 8, 2004. My publisher worked hard to contain the news of this book until after the Hall of Fame announcements and we were both upset when a media leak on Sunday caused the news to be announced on Monday.

It kind of sounds as if this whole Hall of Fame announcement caught Pete and his publisher by suprise, doesn't it?

Now here's an Associated Press story from 12/5/03--a little over a month ago. It's entitled "New Pete Rose autobiography coming sooner than expected":

PHILADELPHIA -- The publication date of Pete Rose's new autobiography has been moved up two months to January.

My Prison Without Bars, written with Rick Hill, will go on sale Jan. 8, Rodale Inc. said Wednesday.

The publication date is two days after the announcement of 2004 Hall of Fame inductees.

Hmm. Of course, it's possible that Pete had no idea of the release date coinciding with the Hall of Fame announcements. But his publisher clearly did, and they had not had this release date planned "many months" ahead of time. In fact, it appears that they moved the date up specifically to coincide with the Hall's announcements.

It's this kind of thing that always ends up making him look bad. He lies even when he doesn't really have to.