Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has taken a pass on making a call about one of America’s great sports controversies.  

Asked if baseball legend Pete Rose should finally be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Republican said, “He’s the Hit King, but I’ll leave it to those who do the voting.”  

That’s according to a survey published by the Lexington Herald-Leader , which asked candidates on the ballot about a series of less serious policy questions.  

Both Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes and Libertarian David Patterson said they would induct into Cooperstown the 17-time All-Star who holds the Major League Baseball record for hits. Northern Kentucky is in Cincinnati’s media market, and many Kentuckians root for the Reds, where Rose played and managed for much of his career.  

“Yes, people deserve second chances after paying their dues,” Grimes said in her survey answer.  

Of course, it isn’t the on-the-field record that has kept “Charlie Hustle” out of Cooperstown. Rose was banned from baseball after an investigation uncovered evidence that Rose was betting on the game.  

Other questions in what the Lexington newspaper called a “playful Q&A” included favorite breakfast foods, movies and after-work beverages.  

Grimes picked bourbon or white wine. McConnell opted for his bourbon in an Old-Fashioned. Neither candidate named a brand preference.  

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