Dear 2014 baseball season

FILE -- Pete Rose, former Cincinnati Reds manager and baseball player. (AP)

Dear 2014 Baseball Season,

Thank you for reminding everyone of what I was born knowing, Baseball is the greatest game there is. It is the closest thing to perfect that we will ever see.

Thank you to everyone who put hustle and hard work into this season. Every player, coach, and scout- from the minors on up. Everyone who sold Cracker Jacks, everyone who pulled out a tarp during a rain delay, every fan, player, umpire and clubhouse attendant- Thank you, your work produced a very special season.

I also want to say, congratulations to not just our Captain, but to everyone who is retiring at the end of this year. Thank you for making our game better.

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To KC and SF: Play to send your teammates and fans home champions. If you feel like you have given it your all this season, now is the time to give more. If you’ve gone your hardest, now you have to go harder. If you’ve left it all on the field, find more to leave. Be aggressive, and then be more aggressive. Never be satisfied.

Fans: Get ready to hold your breath longer -- prepare to move even closer to the edge of your seat because the best baseball is yet to come.

Thank you to all of the Pete Rose fans out there. I have the absolute greatest fans in the world. My fans gave me a 9-minute standing ovation in the Baseball Capital of the World and still show me their love everyday.

But I shake my head when I hear, “How can I support you Pete? How can I help YOU?”

I’m not sure why, but at 73-years-old people still care to hear what I have to say, and I want to say this:

We lose 22 U.S. veterans per day to suicide in this country. This is unacceptable.

Fans, this is the injustice we need to fix. I love you and your support, but let’s rally around our vets, not around me.

To support the change to the status quo that I’d most like to see happen in this country, support HustleForHeroes.org

Thank you,

Pete Rose