In his new position as top advisor to the Red Sox, the long-time outsider has been notably responsible for the thus-yet disastrous “closer by committee” system, in which the Sox have no permanent closers in their stable of pitchers.

Toobin told The Crimson he admired Dershowitz’s technique in this exchange, which came towards the end of witness testimony.

“I thought Dershowitz was clever in how he picked only one witness to go after in an extremely aggressive way,” he said, describing James as “completely thrown” by the assault.

Covering the Bases

Other memorable witnesses included Dan Shaughnessy, a sports writer for The Boston Globe, who echoed many in saying he thought Rose would easily be admitted to the Hall of Fame if only he admitted to gambling on baseball and apologized.

In the absence of such public confessions, Shaughnessy said, he would continue to believe that Rose “loved betting more than he loved baseball.”

And such an affection, said Shaughnessy, is a high offense indeed—worse than other moral failings which Hall-of-Famers have flagrantly displayed.

“A sin against baseball is different than how you treat your family or holding up a bank,” he said.

Lee laughed off such sanctimonious pronouncements about the evil of gambling.

“I don’t think it is the offense it’s cracked up to be,” he said, flippantly suggesting that betting on baseball might be better punished by “go[ing] to Las Vegas for two weeks.”

And James, too, said he did not feel Rose’s alleged bets were apocalyptic events for the national pastime.

“Baseball would survive the admittance of Pete Rose to the Hall of Fame,” he said.

Earlier, former Dodgers first-baseman Steve Garvey said that no matter how serious, Rose’s putative sins might have vanished instantly had he only made a public apology in 1989.

“We really want to forgive him,” he said.

As Cochran edged into confrontational statements rather than simple questions during Garvey’s cross-examination, he met with a sternly-administered rebuke from Crier—an admonition which seemed to embolden Garvey.