The floodgates are already open. These are two individual cases that should be in on merit, (ahead of many current inductees) but are excluded. Are there any others, currently banned, who should be in?
Pete and Shoeless Joe ARE eligible for the HOF. There is nothing that says that if they are banned from baseball they can not be admitted. The HOF is privately run, and could elect Pete if they choose. At least that is my understanding of it. DaDakota
screw Pete Rose. I think the only reason baseball is doing this is to get people to talk about baseball and generate more fan interest. He'll probably w**** himself out to each team for Pete Rose night to sell his autograph.
What about Buck Weaver? He was really starting to hit his stride averaging around .300 in the last 3 years of his career. He could have put together some pretty good career numbers if he weren't banned. That doesn't even take into consideration his defense, one of the only people Ty Cobb wouldn't bunt against. I think he could have made it as a Maz type player.
That's not the case Da...Rose and Shoeless Joe are definitely NOT eligible...if they were they would be in since Selig doesn't have a vote. They are not allowed to be on the ballot
Well this is pretty interesting. I disagree with Rose managing another team no matter what but if there is evidence Rose bet against his own team then maybe he shouldn't be reinstated. We can't completely trample the integrity of the game like that. Dowd: Evidence pointed to Rose bets against Reds -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESPN.com news services John Dowd, hired to investigate Pete Rose's gambling habits 13 years ago for then-baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti, said that if the investigation would have continued a little longer it would have shown the all-time hits leader not only bet on Reds games, but actually bet against the team he was managing. Dowd's comments came in a lengthy telephone interview with the New York Post and were published in Thursday's editions. Even more stunning was Dowd, a Washington D.C.-based lawyer, telling the newspaper that he has been told that part of Rose's possible reinstatement agreement would make him manager of the Reds again. Dowd, who investigated Rose for commissioners Peter Ueberroth and Giamatti in 1989, said his investigation was "close" to showing that Rose also bet against the Reds, but that time constraints prevented its inclusion in the report. The official Dowd Report says "no evidence was discovered that Rose bet against the Cincinnati Reds." When asked if he thought Rose gambled against the Reds, Dowd was quoted as saying, "I think that is probably right." Dowd said Rose did not bet on the Reds whenever two pitchers, including Mario Soto, started, which "sent a message through the gambling community that the Reds can't win" on those days. Neither Roger Greene, Rose's agent, nor Roger Makley, his attorney, returned the newspaper's phone calls Wednesday. Commissioner Bud Selig refused comment on any issue involving Rose, including if there was an understanding Rose would become manager of the Reds again if he is reinstated. "A person called me (Tuesday) and said he had a conversation two weeks ago with Rose in which Rose said he sat with Selig and they came to the agreement if (Rose) made the proper admissions, he would manage the Reds again," Dowd told the Post. "(The Reds) want to get rid of (manager Bob) Boone and bring in Rose as manager." Reds chief operating officer John Allen, who extended Boone's contract through 2003, said the team hasn't considered the possibility. "Bob Boone is our manager," Allen said Wednesday. "We've had no discussions with Pete Rose or Major League Baseball about what happens if he does get reinstated." Allen told the Post if Rose were reinstated he could imagine his organization asking Rose to come to spring training as a special instructor as it does with other former Reds greats such as Johnny Bench. News broke this week that Rose and Selig met secretly in Milwaukee on Nov. 25 and have been exchanging draft proposals that could end his banishment from baseball. During both Dowd's investigation into whether he bet on baseball as manager of the Reds from 1984-89 and in the aftermath of Aug. 23, 1989 when he signed an agreement for a lifetime ban, Rose has steadfastly denied betting on baseball. Nothing has been agreed to at this point -- including whether or not Rose will be reinstated or regain eligibility for Hall of Fame induction -- and while any potential agreement could still fall apart, it's conceivable a deal could be reached by sometime next month, sources have told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. Negotiations are still ongoing on the terms of exactly what Rose will be asked by Selig to admit to before he is reinstated. In order to satisfy constituents who are opposed to Rose's reinstatement, Selig is said to be firm in his conviction that Rose has to admit, in some form, that he bet on baseball. Among his litany of problems with Rose, Dowd told the Post, is that he has seen no evidence over the past 13 years that Rose "reconfigured his life" as Giamatti asked the baseball great to do at the time of his banishment. Thus, Dowd sees no reason to make Rose the first player ever allowed back from the permanently ineligible list. "It sends a powerful, powerful, powerful message that if you cross the Rule 21 (gambling on baseball) line, you're not getting back in, baby," Dowd was quoted as saying about keeping Rose out. http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1212/1475769.html
