THE PETE ROSE DECISION : Other Views : Nation’s Press Shows Little Empathy for Rose : <i> (The reaction to the lifetime suspension of Pete Rose is strong. Here is how some of the country’s top sports columnists saw the decision.)</i>

Pete Rose called it a compromise, and sadder words have seldom been spoken. Banned from baseball for life, the game’s most prolific hitmaker has failed to grasp the action’s possible permanence. He behaves as if his reinstatement were assured and time alone will cure his ailments.

He acts as if he has salvaged something significant from his capitulation to Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

It was a compromise. It was on the same order as the one at Appomattox, whereby U.S. Grant received the Confederacy’s unconditional surrender and Robert E. Lee was allowed to keep his sword.