Topps removes Pete Rose from card backs

This is one of the dumber stories I've come across this offseason. Topps, who holds the exclusive rights to produce MLB-licensed trading cards, has removed all references to Pete Rose on their cards starting with the release of 2013 Topps Series One.

The cards feature a "career chase" blurb on the back, indicating how far away players are from certain career milestones. For example, on Paul Konerko's card, the career chase blurb says that Konerko is 340 home runs shy of Barry Bonds' all-time record of 762. Cool. But when hits are mentioned in the career chase, Rose isn't mentioned. Take a look at this scan of AJ Pierzynski's card, captured by ChicagoSide.

See? No Rose. It's not just an error on Pierzynski's card either, as every other card where hits are mentioned in the Career Chase features no mention of Rose. Topps said the omission was a "simple decision", but didn't elaborate.

We get the point. Pete Rose gambled on baseball, is banned for life, and is a bad person (or whatever). But considering that Topps has exclusive rights to licensed cards, there was probably a lot of MLB influence involved in this. I'm not shocked by this at all, and you shouldn't be either. MLB has been trying for the last 20 plus years to wipe Rose's name from the annals of baseball history, and this is just another step towards achieving that goal.

[ChicagoSide]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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