Pete Rose, Just Go The Fuck Away

The BBQ Pit
21

From the above Washington Post link

Fucking loser.

22

From the National Baseball HOF requirements…

Obviously, there’s no consensus against the man’s skills, hustle and numbers.

But integrity and character? Steeeeeeerike! You’re outta here.

23

Are you kidding me? If everyone was taking drugs, the stats would get a bit out of whack, and records would be shattered, yes. But the results of the game would still be undecided before the game started.

If everyone was gambling, then baseball becomes simply a scripted waste of time.

Baseball with drugs is about a million times healthier of a sport, game, and business than baseball with rampant gambling. It’s not even close.

24

My understanding is that next year is the last year he can be on the ballot. After that, it goes to the Veteran’s Committee, where it’s thought he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting in.

Nothing more than a transparent attempt to get his ass in the HOF. As if the timing is a coincidence, his admission coming in the same week as the HOF announcement.

Guaranteed he still doesn’t think he did anything wrong, fuck 'im, let him rot.

25

So what’s the over/under on him getting into the HOF?

26

First off, leave hin out of it. Hin is a fine institution that deserves better. Second, Shoeless Joe took money to fix the World Series. You can argue his batting average, you can argue his fielding percentage, you can say “yeah, he took the money, but he didn’t throw any games” none of that changes the fact that SHOELESS JOE TOOK MONEY TO THROW THE WORLD SERIES.

I am in no way a defender of Pete Rose. I think he’s a despicable man, a selfish, me-first player, and a lying piece of shit. However, betting on baseball games is a lesser sin than TAKING MONEY TO THROW THE WORLD SERIES. Although I believe Pete Rose’s sin is a sin that should result in an eternal ban from baseball and the Hall of Fame, and although everything I’ve read about Shoeless Joe has been flattering, I still think conspiring to, and taking money to, throw the world series is far worse.

27

Fuck Rose.

Now if we can just get everyone to ignore his book, and send it straight to the remainers pile…

28

Molitor and Eckersley just made it in their 1st year of eligibility, also in are Sandburg, Rice, Dawson, Gossage, Lee Smith and Blyleven. (AP, 2:09)

29

Not correct. Only Molitor and Eck.

30

From this AP story:

Hmmmmmm. Here we have two contradictory recollections of events. Whom should we believe?

I think I’ll go with the guy who didn’t openly lie for 14 years and who didn’t publicly smear the reputations of honourable men for 14 years …

What a jerk.

31

Shit… thanks Flymaster. The others I mentioned got votes but less than the required 75% for induction. Appreciate the correction!

32

Couldn’t there be a side room or something in the back…call it the Hall of Shame. Put the guys in there that WOULD have made it except for being fucking stupid or whatnot?

33

The irritating thing is that it’s quite obvious Rose is STILL lying. Does anyone really believe his bullshit that he never made gambling calls from the clubhouse? It took 48 hours for a witness to say he’s lying and to say Rose had a gambling associate in the clubhouse. We have a witness ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD who saw Rose gambling not two weeks ago, albeit on the ponies, but Rose claims he doesn’t bet anymore. He lies, lies, lies.

He’s a liar, a thief, an egomaniac and a cheat. He cheats the government, he steals, he lies, he breaks his word, he breaks the rules. He hurt his own team so he could achieve a record. He cares for nobody but himself. His word is worth nothing. He cannot be trusted. But most important, HE BROKE THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE. Trouble me not with complaints about steroids; hell, when all those records were broken there wasn’t even a rule against steroids, so what’s the problem? Rose broke The Rule, the most important rule, and there’s a reason it’s the most important rule. The rule so important they put it on a big sign in every clubhouse. The rule that 20 players or more have already been banned for life over.

I hate Bud Selig, but there’s one thing the man has done right all these years; he’s refused to let Rose back in. I hope he continues doing it. I am relieved this book release wasn’t accompanied by the announcement of a pre-negotiated deal to let him back in, as some reporters last year claimed it would be.

34

I think he should be inducted into the HoF–his skill and hustle are inspiring and deservedly legendary. I think there should be a respectful but joyous full ceremony, with his wife and kids and whichever of his old teammates are still around under the benevolent gaze of the Commissioner.

I also think this ceremony should take place one month to the day after Pete Rose’s funeral.

35

I was going through this thread, working up my opinion on how the solution to the issue of Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame is implicit in the problem…

and then I saw that Mehitabel has said the same thing much better than I could.

After all, a lifetime ban isn’t forever.

36

Hear, hear, Mehitabel, with one small correction.

Given that Pete is an unabashed self-promoting egotistical glory hog, I think that he should be inducted posthumously into the HOF without any ceremony. Instead, slip his name into a stack of shipping requisitions for sliced ham and canned soft drinks, accidentally drop a well-trodden Reds hat in the shipping dock, file an order to have his plaque made then fail to proofread the bronze casting for about 2 years, mis-proof it and get a bad one made, send off a new order and put up a temporary paper mockup in its place somewhere in the men’s bathroom at Cooperstown where people can draw on it.

But don’t actually mention that he made the HOF. Even dead, he’d enjoy the attention too much.

37

As long as Giamatti gets in before him. And Fay Vincent. And Bowie Kuhn. And Sadaharu Oh, and Lefty O’Doul, and Luis Sojo, Mookie Wilson, Rich Garces, Lou Gehrig’s Mom…

38

I think that pretty much sums it up…

39

Reeder, Psycho Pirate and anyone operating under a delusion similar to theirs:

  1. Drugs != gambling in terms of baseball eligibility (cf., among others, Orlando Cepeda). Gambling is the ONE SINGLE CARDINAL SIN you can’t break. Rose KNEW this and STILL did it. The reams of drugs other players did it an entirely separate issue, because being found doing pot, for example, doesn’t carry with it the ramification of LIFETIME BANNING that gambling does.

  2. He played hard. He also bet hard. See previous on what gambling on baseball means if you’re caught.

  3. It isn’t just about what you do on the field. Really. That’s arguably one reason it took so long to get Cepeda in. It’s also why Rose should never be allowed in the HoF except as a janitor, if that. Gambling on the game carries serious ramifications. In his many years being in a baseball dugout, I’m confident Rose knew the prohibitions on gambling and the penalties for being caught. Yet he DID get caught. So he isn’t eligible.

[sub]I wish there were a sticky on this … “gambling in baseball carries with it a lifetime banning. Doing drugs does not”.[/sub]

40

There is a sign up in every clubhouse about not gambling, there is no such sign for drugs. I think that is a good indicator of how big a deal gambling is.