Pete Rose has had one wish at the top of his Christmas list for about 13 years. In a Sports Nation poll this week, 91.2 percent of you agreed that Pete should, in fact, find reinstatement in his stocking this year and an eventual spot in Cooperstown.

That left us wondering what Santa Selig would say if Petey was pleading on his knee.

You flooded our mailbag with about 400 explanations in Page 2's first-ever Mystery Sportoon. Here are the best of them all.

You bet-ter watch out!
You bet-ter not cry!
You bet-ter not shout!
And I'm telling you why!
Selig Claus is voting you down!
Peder Swendsrud
Fergus Falls, Minn.

"Well Pete, I don't know how to tell you this, but -- it's a tie. Me and the elves can't decide. As I'm sure you know, a push goes to the house. Better luck next time."
Todd Benatovich
Dallas

"Deck the Hall with a plaque of you? With that haircut, little Pete?!"
Chris Saltis
Sterling, Mass.

"No, Petey, I can NOT bring you "Blitzen in the fourth race at Santa Anita."
Jake
Seattle

O come, all ye baseball,
Lenient and forebearing
O come ye, O come ye to
Coo-oo-perstown
Come and behold him
Born the King of hu-ustle
C'mon, let us adore him
C'mon, let us adore him
Oh please let us adore him
In the Hall
Katie
Indianapolis

"You'll get nothing and like it!"
Matt
South Carolina

"Truthfully, Pete, the only reason I'm allowing this is because my daughter has you in the Hall by the '03 All-Star break in the office pool."
Tom Langford
Clarksville, Tenn.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told the Player's Association -- People in hell want ice water, but they ain't gettin it!"
Ryan
Maryland

"The Hall of Fame -- maybe. But making PONY the official shoe of MLB ... no dice, kid."
Chris Harris
New York

"Sorry, a six-game MLB parlay won't fit in your stocking."
Todd Uyeda
Pleasanton, Calif.

	Nick Bakay

"I could get you back into baseball and all you want for Christmas is lunch with Nick Bakay? Hmm."
Andrew Cobb
Franklin, Mass.

"... and Selig Claus wants a personality. Sometimes life disappoints you, Pete."
Andrew Maly
Bel Air, Md.

"Lost a bundle on that All-Star game, didn't ya?"
Kevin McKay
Philadelphia

"No, Peter, I will not check my list a third time!"
Nick Downing
Pittsfied, Mass.

"Ooh, you went out and bought a tie, huh? You must really mean it this time. That's quite an act of contrition."
Matt
Cincinnati

"All you want for Christmas is a two-point tease??"
Karim N.
Philadelphia

"Listen, kid. I don't care what you want. I just took this gig for the money."
Bill Webb
Rocky Hill, Conn.

"Sorry, Pete, contrary to popular belief of a one-year statute of limitations, Santa's records go back at least 20 years."
Matty
Boston

"Pete, get me five out of six this Sunday, and I'll see what I can do."
Dave
Long Island, N.Y.

"Next!"
Shannon Sweeney
Philadelphia

"The poker set is a possibility, but the Hall -- are you crazy?"
Casey
South Dakota

"You'll shoot your eye out, kid."
Sameer Suterwala
Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Jingle bells,
Pete Rose smells,
He can kiss my a$$
Reinstatement, what a laugh
He must be smoking grass!
Neil Pierson
Spokane, Wash.

"I'll get you into the Hall of Fame, but I'm not giving you Miami minus-13."
Garth Reid
Philadelphia

"I'll bet you my ticket to a better approval rating, you're in."
Raul Sarduy
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.