Bud Selig, get over it already. You’re treating Pete like he was a mass murderer. The justice system would have paroled him by now, as the charges are almost 20 years old. Charlie Hustle belongs in the Hall for what he accomplished as a player, not excluded because of misdeeds as a manager. This is his last year of eligibility, so stop fucking with the man. Deal with the present problems facing MLB, and put aside your scourge for Pete. He’s paid.
Article here.
This is the only thing that gets me about the whole thing. He agreed to the lifetime ban. What part of lifetime ban did he not understand? He never read the words and thought “Gee, maybe I’ll have some second thoughts about this sometime in my lifetime.”
I’d be all for forgive and forget if he hadn’t agreed to it.
I understand what you’re saying, completely. That was Pete’s decision, at the time. Unfortunately, that does jack for all of us fans who believe that the man belongs in the Hall. Had I the power to cast a vote, it would be in favor of Pete being given his rightful place in the history of the game, and I know I’m not alone.
And had I a vote, I would vote against him. I’m not alone either.
Pete Rose belongs nowhere near baseball in any way, shape, or form, including the Hall of Fame. He was a hell of a player, but he broke the sport’s cardinal rule and cast doubt on the integrity of the game. His offenses were far more serious than the current steroid brouhaha, and people are clamoring for asterisks in the record books and HOF lockouts over that. Rose’s fuckups were an order of magnitude worse.
Still, I’m with you on Selig - he definitely should have made a decision. His problem is that he doesn’t want to piss off either one of us, so in the process he’s gotten us both. Bud, it’s time to shit or get… no, no shitting. Get off the fucking pot already.
Exactly, the man broke the rules and that’s that. Baseball is better off without him. And Selig sucks. He is now trying to hold DC hostage after the best year the Expos ever had.
But the people who do have the power to cast a vote are leaving you in the lerch.
Even the ones on your side aren’t powerful enough to get him in.
I was a huge Phillies fan in 1980, and in my 9 year old mind, he made the greatest catch in the history of catches when he backed up Bob Boone down the first base line. But the guy confessed to breaking the cardinal sin of baseball and agreed to his lifetime ban. Fifteen years and a commissioner later is no time to try changing the rules. It’s not like he’s going to be forgotten. He might even become more legendary as the years wear on. Shoeless Joe Jackson doesn’t have a HOF plaque, either, does he? Whether he himself helped throw the 1919 series or not, he admitted to it at the time and he’s being held to it. It doesn’t make him any less a great player.
And no fair trying to lay this at the feet of Selig. You certainly have the “Bud Sucks” vote, but hate the player, not the game.
“It would be a great honor if I made the Hall of Fame.”
Not to mention a big boost for his memorabilia sales.
The thing that gets me about Pete Rose is he confessed - after 15 years of denying it, and having staunch fans insisting he was innocent.
I didn’t see it in the article, but I seem to remember him having gotten an offer somewhere down the line: if he would confess his sins, they’d reinstate him. Am I misremembering?
Yeah, I wouldn’t vote him in just for the sleezy way he’s handled it. Let’s face it, Pete Rose has basically made a career out of getting people to sympathize with him. Yes, he was a great player as well, but I can’t remember him ever doing much that would make him a good human being. He bet on baseball, lied about it for years, wrote a book finally confessing, and now trying to write off his son’s wrongs (distributing steriods) as a “minor mistake.” I really don’t have a lot of respect for the guy.
On the other hand, maybe voting him in would shut him up, and we’d actually hear less about him.
Being an Australian on the outside looking in, does it TRULY make a big difference to the sport of Major League Baseball if Pete Rose enters the Hall of Fame, or not?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not denigrating the sport of baseball for a second, nor am I hanging shit on those people who love the game so passionately. I’m just sayin’ that to this somewhat detached observer, it seems kind of like discussing whether The Beatles should have ever won a Grammy or not for Best Album or Record of The Year etc. My understanding is that they didn’t, and I personally think they should have won shitloads but it doesn’t take away from the fact that we still get to enjoy The Beatles after all these years.
Does that analogy make sense?
Perfect sense, to me, anyway. The only difference is that the Beatles never signed anything that permanently disqualified them from Grammy consideration. But your point stands. What is really that big a difference between “Hall of Famer” and “Hall of Fame caliber career”? The simple answer is ego, especially where Pete Rose is concerned.
Baseball has a Golden Rule. It is in every clubhouse. “Do not bet on Baseball”.
Pete is at least guilty on betting on the team he managed.
He has been a total idiot during the entire suspension.
He is his own worst enemy in every way.
Any normal human would have done the contrition act and made a big deal about Gamblers anonymous and they would have been forgiven.
Do I think Pete was a HOF player? Of course, I am a diehard Yankee fan and yet I always admired the way he played all out. He was old school before the term was invented. He left everything on the field every game. He always gave 110%. He was **Charlie Hustle ** the hit king and I enjoyed watching him play.
He is a deeply troubled and weak will man who has done this to himself.
Please, give up on him. Put him in the hall 5 years after he dies. That way he can do no further harm to his once stellar reputation.
Jim
It would make a bit more sense if it went something like this:
It is discovered after all these years that the Beatles stole key elements of several of the their most memorable songs from an itinerant songwriter, who was paid off in exchange for his silence and then died in obscurity.
Do you still enjoy those songs in quite the same way?
Fans who have some emotional connection to the game of baseball might experience similar feelings seeing Rose enshrined (or not) in the Hall of Fame.
NO! NO! NO! To elevate Rose at this or any point in the future is a travestry compared to the supposed wrongdoings of Shoeless Joe. As others have stated, Rose broke the cardinal rule and now he must suffer the consequences. FWIW, I think Rose’s behavior on the memorabilia circuit has also proven his true pathetic character.
Unfortunately, Selig also is a sham of a commissioner but hey, he’s exactly what the other owners wanted.
Jackmannii? Thank you. I understand the situation better now.
Hey, I’m fine if he never gets in. Just don’t do him the honor while he is alive.
I think the rest of my post made that clear.
Jim
Your post was clear and I was not trying to infer otherwise, I just don’t agree for the reasons I stated.
I may be totally off-base here but the impression I’ve always had regarding Shoeless Joe was that Comiskey took advantage of him (and almost everyone else on the team) in terms of salary and payments and Shoeless Joe was only out to get what he truly felt he deserved. Let me make it clear though that Shoeless Joe doesn’t belong in and his sins could be considered as less than that of Rose within the context of their times and situations.
That’s the difference. I think Shoeless Joe should be in. He was guilty but barely. They apparently let Ty Cobb go for betting on games.
But mostly I always interpreted Lifetime ban, to mean lifetime, not forever.
So let me amend it to they should let Pete in after Joe Jackson gets in and Pete has been dead for at least 5 years.
Jim
Lots of players made low salaries and were exploited by the owners of that era.
Shoeless Joe was in on a plot to throw the World Series. He took money toward that end. Accounts of the Series show that while he batted well, his play was suspiciously slack at times. He and other Black Sox (i.e. Cicotte and Buck Weaver) can be remembered as great players, just not as Hall of Famers.
I’d let Rose in the Hall of Fame, with the following condition: he is forever banned from holding any position with any professional baseball team, from good-will ambassador to scout to manager. He can have his plaque in the Hall and play in old-timers’ games. His achievements as one of the greatest players ever would be honored. He wouldn’t be given an opportunity to corrupt baseball.
I’m honestly trying to understand why people feel Pete Rose should be given the highest honor in baseball in light of his actions. If I work my ass off at a company, break every single sales quota in existence, and increase profits by 500%, and at the end of the year, decide to steal the petty cash box, should I be eligible for employee of the year? He may have been a great, but his actions were anything but. Why give an honor to a person who has acted anything but honorably? He lied for 15 years - bold faced, teary eyed, heartfelt lies.
It might sound simple, but I really feel that he should suffer the consequences of his actions. Great or not, he fucked up, and he (and, unfortunately, his fans) should have to deal with the price of that.