Letter from Charlie Vascellaro

Setting the Record Straight

In response to Ted Potrikus’ letter to the editor in the May 29, 2025 edition of “The Freeman’s Journal” concerning my story, “Posthumous Reinstatement Resurrects Rose’s Hall of Fame Candidacy;” I would like to address the letter writer’s assumption that the photo of Trump signing a baseball for Rose “suggests to the reader the story was a pitch from Mr. Levine, replete with a picture of the president autographing his Rose-endorsement baseball like it was one of his ubiquitous executive orders.”

While I can see how the letter writer might jump to this conclusion, there was no intended suggestion to any reader that this story was pitched to me or the paper.

I pitched the story to the paper as a news story and not an editorial column or opinion piece, and made my best attempt to write an objective story.

I have strong opinions concerning Commissioner Manfred’s reinstatement of Rose.

I made a conscious effort not to include my sentiments in this story and attempted only to state the facts in a mostly chronological order.

The photo of Trump signing the ball was procured from an outside source. I asked the source who the photo credit should be attributed to. It was not furnished by the photographer.

The photo is part of the chronological, factual sequence of events preceding Rose’s reinstatement involving two of the principals mentioned in the story.

Readers are free to come to their own interpretations and conclusions.

Charlie Vascellaro
Baltimore, Maryland