Raymond J. de Souza: Shohei Ohtani delivers Major League Baseball a redemption arc

Ohtani’s recent play brought joy to the game — something Pete Rose, who died Monday, denied fans over the last 35 years

Pete Rose died Monday, on the last day of baseball’s regular season, a season which began with a gambling scandal uncomfortably close to Shohei Ohtani, the generational talent who had one of the most marvelous seasons ever. Ohtani’s play brought joy, something Rose denied fans over the last 35 years.

It must have brought some grudging comfort to Rose, who was 83, to have lived long enough to see professional sports make its (lucrative) peace with gambling. He died in Las Vegas, where the National Football League staged the high holy days of the Super Bowl this year, and where he had set up a tawdry (but lucrative) post-baseball career in hawking his autograph. Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” for the intensity of his play, at the end Rose was just a hustler, pure and simple. It was terribly sad.