'Charlie Hustle's' slow road to possible Hall of Fame recognition

On Sunday, Pete Rose will likely be a topic of conversation at the annual National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. Rose died Sept. 30, 2024, at age 83. Major League Baseball then lifted a lifetime ban of Rose from any association with MLB. He’s now eligible in the December 2027 election.

Rose’s career included a record 4,256 regular season hits, three World Series championships and 17 All-Star appearances. Many of his bats and uniforms are displayed in the Hall of Fame Museum. But years of lying about a gambling addiction denied him the pleasure of seeing his name in the Plaque Gallery.

Being dead is Rose’s first requirement. The question is how to reference this fact on his bronze plaque.

In September 1985, Rose broke Ty Cobb’s career hits record. Gambling allegations began surfacing, and the lifetime ban came four years later.

Rose lived his final years in Las Vegas.

On the last weekend of MLB’s regular season in 2024, he went to Nashville for the Music City sports collectibles and autograph show. Promoters touted Rose’s appearance as part of the "Big Red Machine" reunion.

He was photographed in a wheelchair surrounded by fellow members of that 1970s Reds dynasty — Tony Pérez, David Concepción, Ken Griffey Sr. and George Foster.

For years, Rose autographed balls with the inscription, “I’m sorry I bet on baseball.” I can imagine him telling people the same story he told the media: "I was rooting for my teams — no, believing in my teams. I bet the Reds to win every time."

And I can imagine someone mentioning that White Sox fans were rooting for their team to set a record for most losses in a season. ESPN even found a Chicago bettor who claimed he’d made $1,500 betting for one of his city's team to lose.

For Rose, the hypocrisy of MLB making money from legalized gambling was old news. But people betting against their own team?

He caught a flight back to Las Vegas on the same day the Sox closed the season with a modern era worst record of 121 losses. The next day Rose was found dead in his home.

The autopsy revealed "hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with a significant condition of diabetes mellitus." That’s a little wordy and unremarkable. The incomparable "Charlie Hustle" struck down by high blood pressure and diabetes?

Can’t his Hall of Fame plaque just say he died of a broken heart?

Bob Heuer, Evanston

Quantum’s future starts with funding basic science

Quantum technologies will revolutionize our world in the coming decades, but capturing those advances and their economic impact requires investment in fundamental research and education today. Congress should pass the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act and restore funding for fundamental research and education. This ongoing investment provides the foundation for new technologies, trains the technical workforce and attracts the best minds from around the world to study, work and start companies here. Cutting this funding would be an irreversible blunder that cuts the U.S. off at the knees and cedes our long-standing dominance in quantum and other technologies.

Industries with potential uses for quantum technologies span medicine and pharmaceuticals, defense and security, agriculture and many more. Reaching today’s commercial and near-commercial quantum devices has required decades of research developing entirely new platforms that work in the face of the extreme fragility of quantum systems. Developing larger and more powerful quantum devices will require new and different approaches. Continued fundamental research in materials science, optics, quantum physics, the theory of quantum information and more is required for this. Furthermore, ongoing research in biology, medicine, chemistry and other fields where quantum technologies will be used is needed to harness their potential.

Society also needs a better understanding of how quantum technologies work. I recently met with congressional staffers to debunk quantum myths and provide intuition for quantum technologies. They were incredibly curious, but between the underlying "weirdness" of quantum physics and the overwhelming hype of quantum technologies, many of them had difficulty learning on their own. Government funding is needed to design and integrate quantum units in high school and even earlier to ensure the next generation is prepared for the quantum revolution.

Most fundamental research does not lead directly to new technology. This is a feature, not a bug. If we only fund projects that are certain to advance a particular technology, we will never achieve anything truly innovative or novel. The batter steps up to the plate knowing the likely outcome is an out because batting is the only way to score. Most government-funded research will likely not lead directly to new technologies, but virtually all new technologies are built upon government-funded research — and we should not forfeit the game.

Elizabeth Goldschmidt, assistant professor of physics and associate director, Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Genocide is a simple word. Why all the confusion?

Article II of the United Nations Convention signed by member states, officially describes genocide as a crime committed with "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group." One of the defining criteria is "causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group." Perhaps examples would be the attempted extermination of all the Jewish people during the Holocaust, or perhaps, the ongoing murderous destruction of the people of Palestine under the guise of Israel’s self-defense.

Genocide. A simple word, really, with a simple definition that describes the simple concept of murdering or hurting members of a group for various specious and contrived reasons (like maybe, "self-defense"?). And yet as simple as the concept is, various governments like Israel, the U.S., Britain, Myanmar, Russia and China conveniently engage in the game of doublespeak, seeking to cloud the very real acts of murder and destruction of a people.

Genocide. A simple word, really. The word clearly defines a criminal act against humanity. That definition was agreed upon in a compromise reached by the UN member states in 1948 and eventually signed by the U.S., Israel, China, Myanmar and Russia, among many others during the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of of the Crime of Genocide.

Genocide. A simple word, really. A verboten word to all too many. Perhaps it is thought that by not speaking the word that this crime against humanity will not and doesn’t exist. Yes, we can all sleep more easily if only we avoid that horrid word. And humanity can sleep dreams of denial rather than rightfully experiencing nightmares of our complicity as witnessed by the lack of protest and action.

Rick Fichter, Oakbrook

Keep polluters out

Nobody wants a big new huge polluter to move in right next door. But right now that’s exactly what Chicago’s zoning system allows. You can build as big a deadly pollution source as you want, no questions asked, despite already overwhelming health burdens in neighborhoods where polluters continue to congregate. People living with this constant threat should at least get a warning and a chance to ask questions before any big new pollution source is added to already overburdened neighborhoods where they live.

The Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impact Ordinance under consideration would protect people by making sure community residents can ask questions before such a facility is approved — not after. It would require a new large industrial development to conduct a cumulative impacts study and hold a community meeting before it could be added to an environmental justice community. It also requires regular citywide cumulative impacts assessments, with findings incorporated into longer-term city decision-making.

People have a right to a clean and healthy environment, no matter where they live in Chicago. The new federal government rollbacks of both environmental protections and health coverage are putting already vulnerable people at even greater risk. And while new polluting sources still might be located in the city going forward, it must ensure residents’ rights to health and safety are not trumped by dirty industry without their voices being heard and considered.

Brian Urbaszewski, director, environmental health programs, Respiratory Health Association, Chicago

Political ad excess

I can’t believe that some political candidates running in 2026 have already begun airing TV ads.

The fact that they have excess campaign cash to burn on mindless ads tells me that they are out of touch with their constituents.

I'd rather see a candidate run one ad during his or her campaign, advising how he or she is not going to waste money on TV ads.

Any candidate who spends tens of millions of dollars in ads scares me about how they will handle my tax dollars once they are in office.

I am a taxpayer, and I do not approve of these ads.

Steven Fortuna, Naperville

American nightmare

In a recent gut-wrenching WBEZ story that appeared in the Sun-Times about a separated Venezuelan family, there's mention of a mother's efforts to "self-deport." Let's call it what it is — she is attempting, desperately, to flee this country. And who could blame her? It's shameful what we've become.

Brandon Clark, Logan Square

Trump is no tin man

The revelation that President Donald Trump’s swollen ankles resulted from chronic venous insufficiency — a condition making it difficult for veins to return blood to the heart — solved another medical mystery. After the harsh treatment he ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to impose on undocumented migrants, it’s reassuring to know that Trump has blood, not ice water, flowing in his veins and that he has a heart.

Paul L. Newman, Merion Station, Pennsylvania

Calling foul

As further evidence of the small (and deteriorating?) mind of Donald Trump, now he's applying political pressure on Washington's football team and Cleveland's baseball team to revert their names back to those that had been so culturally disrespectful of Native Americans for years. This is yet another display of his small-minded obsession with names as he first demonstrated with his urgent need to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

While Trump and his administration are grabbing people off the street and confining them in spaces smaller than are provided for our nation's zoo animals, he sits and ponders what to call some of our sports teams. It makes me wonder how long it will take for this guy to decide that the Statue of Liberty should be renamed the Statue of Trump. I will concede that at this point in time, what Lady Liberty represented in her historical past is being eroded with the passing of each new day under the Trump presidency.

Vincent Smith, Big Rock

Fascists kings of the mountain

I agree with Donald Trump. He belongs on Mount Rushmore. Joining him should be Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin. This would be the Mount Rushmore of the most vile, hateful leaders in world history.

Michael Levey, Deerfield

Tragic American opera

A recent news item says that congressional Republicans want to rename the Kennedy Center's Opera House after Melania Trump. My question is, is this really what the American people voted for in the last election?

Steven Herr, West Ridge

‘Kiss cam’ couple craze

Yes, 100 times yes to S.E. Cupp’s analysis of why the Coldplay "kiss cam" couple became an obsession. We are craving that kind of "immediate justice" which, as Cupp states, feels "so elusive" today. Actual consequences for bad decisions? The "kiss cam" couple's fate showed us it's still possible. And wow, did we need that reminder right now.

Tiffany Brucato, Roselle

CPS financial woes

To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway's famous quote: "How did Chicago Public Schools go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly." 

Kenneth Marier, Lake View