An attorney for former MLBer Pete Rose last night said that his client "did not endorse Donald Trump," nor did he "autograph a baseball for the GOP presidential front-runner," according to Williams & Pilcher of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. Raymond Genco said that the baseball in the photo that Trump tweeted on Sunday night "was not signed specifically" for the presidential candidate even though it "is addressed to him and includes Trump's signature campaign slogan." Genco said, "We want to be perfectly clear Pete is staying out of politics entirely" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 3/15).
ROCK THE VOTE: The issue of sports figures endorsing political candidates and whether they deserve the criticism they sometimes receive for voicing their opinions was discussed on a recent telecast of SNY’s “Daily News Live.” The net's Marc Malusis said, “You want your athletes to go out there and speak your mind and you’re not going to agree with everything that an athlete has to say.” But the N.Y. Daily News’ Bob Raissman said it is a "double-edged sword” because people "want these guys to stand for something." Raissman: "But when they do take a stand and you don't like their position, you're going to rip them.” The N.Y. Daily News’ Anthony McCarron said, “We do criticize athletes all the time for not taking a stand about something or not saying something.” Raissman added the teams “are more concerned about how it reflects on their organization.” SNY’s Jonas Schwartz said there are “market forces at play” because if a player endorses a candidate that people "view or somebody views as controversial, the market might pull back on them, endorsements might go away" (“Daily News Live,” SNY, 3/11).
