Pete Rose. Most people know he is out of baseball and cannot work in MLB or even get into the Hall of Fame. Most people know this is for apparently gambling on the sport of baseball. Does he deserve to be back in baseball? Hall of Fame? Never? What are your opinions?
I'm honestly tired of all the reporters holding baseball on such a high pedestil. They act like its the only pure thing left in this world. The truth is that its a sport with a history of cheaters and tankers. It kind of reminds me of life. We give people who cheat on their spouses second chances. Hey, we even elect them to office sometimes. I honestly do not think what Pete Rose did was not that unforgivable. As far as his playing career went, the dude is damn impressive fighting and clawing his way for hits. First ballot hall of famer hands down in my book. His managing career should have no impact on whether on not he goes in as a player. One more thing I'd like to add is how sickening it is that reporters hold their hall of fame ballots over people's heads. They protest players by not voting obvious hall of famers in the first time. Give me a f*&%ing break. If anything, it is the reporters that are acting like they are above the game by not respecting these players and acknowledging what they have done. I'm tired of every yankee who was a decent player making it in and hard working, more talented players like jim rice (recently) getting overlooked and bullied by these reporters for years when they should have been in the hall 10 years ago.
Let him in the Hall, though technically up to the Veteran's committee. He has no business being allowed to manage or coach again.
I honestly don't care one way or the other. I have no sympathy for him, nor do I hold him any special ill will. He broke the one cardinal rule in baseball, the one crime that can and almost did topple a sport, and he knew the consequences of breaking that rule, broke it anyway, lied about it, and then tried to profit off the truth. I won't be phased if he never gets in.
Sure, let him back in but if you do, then you better damn well let Shoeless Joe Jackson back in as well. He's the classic example of someone who deserves to be in the HOF and unlike Rose, there is a lot of doubt on whether he really participated in the Black Sox scandal of 1919 yet he was kept out any way by egomaniac, Kennesaw Mountain Landis. I mean you know you have an ego when you were named after a mountain, for crying out loud.
It is a big deal. He could easily stack the deck in lineups/rotations/bullpen usage to sacrifice the following game(s) in order to win the one he bet on. Betting on your team to win is just as bad as betting on them to lose.
that's funny because as a baseball fan i'm tired of the sport being held to a standard far higher than the other sports. i heard tim kurkjian talking about that the other day with respect to the NFL's problems....and saying if they were MLB's individuals caught in criminal acts like that so regularly, the league itself would get absolutely blasted. he was talking to another reporter who didn't disagree with him and tried to explain why that was the case.
particularly when you consider what it communicates when you don't bet on them. betting is THE rule in pro sports. the black sox scandal is exhibit "a."
I say keep him out of the league but induct him into the Hall of Fame... after he passes away. He earned his achievements on the field, becoming one of the greats. But gambling is a vice that can't be anywhere near baseball. He should never see himself glorified in the Hall.
I know, really I think CHEATING with steroid is a much bigger deal. And baseball doesn't give a **** about that.
I just remember him getting 'tombstone' piledriven by Kane at about 3 Wrestlemania's in a row. I don't know, or care about Baseball, past or present. The guy is a joke to me.
Let him in already. He knows what he did, the public knows what he did. He admitted it and he's remorseful. His legacy will forever be tainted and MLB has gotten their point across by making an example out of him.
He became Band Geek Mobster (or went back to that moniker) and then I believed he moved to Orlando and then just got busy with life.
He did admit it ... then he backtracked. He said he never bet on the Reds ... until he said that he did bet on the Reds ... but only on them to win. He is remorseful at times ... and other times he snubs his nose at baseball. He's the very definition of an opportunist - he's willing to say or do whatever benefits him most at the time. I'm not a big fan of the character clause in the HoF voting standard, so it wouldn't bother me to see him inducted. He's just a sleazeball of the highest order. Plus he's not as good a player as most people think. Yes, he's the Hit King, but he's also the Plate Appearance king. He's the Nolan Ryan of hitting - a great player, but horribly overrated due to stat-compiling longevity.
I think Rose should be in the Hall, no doubt about it (at least in my opinion). He wasn't "juiced," like so many "big name" players today. Charlie Hustle played the game the old fashioned way. Having said that, no way in hell should he be allowed to participate in the game. The Hall, yes. Coach or anything else connected with baseball? No.
