This Pit's for you, Bud

[Exgineer]

@RobuSensei

Exgineer: What about the fact that the Hall of Fame created a rule stating that players under a lifetime ban are not eligible to be inducted?

It’s a Hall of Fame rule, and the Hall can change it or make exceptions if they like. All I saying is they’re not bound in any way by anything MLB does unless they choose to be.

[Enginerd]

From ESPN.com

@Darren Rovell

Leland’s is selling it as a Rose, game-used bat. The auction house is also marketing it as a corked bat. According to company president Mike Heffner, there is a nickel-sized hole at the end of the bat. Thanks to the paint chipping off, a plug can be seen with remnants of either cork or putty filling.

Rose hit a home run with this bat in May of '85. He broke Cobb’s hit record that September. Guess he needed a little help to get some of those last hits.

[diku]

My impression has always been the big stumbling block isn’t that he wants in the HoF, it’s that he wants to be able to try to manage again. Obviously, that’ll never fly. No way should he be allowed near a field again, except in an exhibition that he can’t bet on.

And I agree, he shouldn’t be in the hall either. Not like he didn’t know the rules.

[Jonathan_Chance]

@Enginerd

In the past, other all-time greats have been on that list and had their names removed, including Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle for taking publicity jobs with casinos. Coming down hard on any association between the sports’ athletes and the world of baseball gambling is one of the few things that the sport is doing right.

Excepting, of course, the current love affair between the supposedly itinerant Florida Marlins and Las Vegas.

Sure, I know that non-gambling interests can be ownership in Vegas but I have my doubts that a team in LV won’t be influenced by gambling to some greater or lesser extent.

[BwanaBob]

@RobuSensei

I apologize for misinterpreting your question. As for what I think about that question, I agree with others who have already responded, saying that it’s a separate issue. Right now, there’s a rule that says “Do not bet on baseball,” and the penalty is the lifetime ban. You want to argue that “juiced” players also deserve a lifetime ban (and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that point), that’s a whole 'nother discussion.

Exgineer: What about the fact that the Hall of Fame created a rule stating that players under a lifetime ban are not eligible to be inducted?

My key gripe is that other “gamblers” were allowed in. Nothing pisses me off more than rules applied inconsistantly.

Let him in to the HoF, but never allow him to “suit up” again, in any capacity.

[What_Exit]

@BwanaBob

My key gripe is that other “gamblers” were allowed in. Nothing pisses me off more than rules applied inconsistantly.

Let him in to the HoF, but never allow him to “suit up” again, in any capacity.

Keep in mind that the whole Cobb/Speaker incident was before the Hall existed. The knowledge only came out later and as you can see many baseball fans still don’t know about it.

Jim

[black_rabbit]

@acsenray

I’m really torn on this issue. When I was growing up, Pete Rose was my favourite player. I adored him. I spent hours staring at my 1976 Cincinnati Reds baseball cards. I love his spirit and his accomplishments.

But since growing up, I’ve gained some perspective on Pete Rose the man. He’s an ignorant moron. Possibly his only positive trait is his apparent lack of racial prejudice. Otherwise, he’s vile. He’s stupid. He’s egotistical. Mentally, he’s a backward child. Ethically and morally, he’s a retard. He took uppers (and who knows what else) as a player. His friends are lowlife scum. He’s a bad husband and a bad father. He hasn’t once shown that he understands his transgression. He hasn’t shown true remorse. He let me down and tens of thousands of Cincinnati Reds fans down. And it wasn’t something unavoidable; he did it out of pure personal stupidity. Every time he opens his mouth, he loses some more sympathy from me.

Ding!

As a lifetime Cincinnatian and a mild Reds fan, I’ve got this to say:

Fuck him.

I’d almost be willing to let him in to the Hall, if only to get the local media to shut the hell up about it.

He’s also a complete jackass and probably a certifiable moron. He’s warped the hell out of his kid - really, don’t you think Petey would have been better off, oh I dunno, going to college or something?

Fuck him, and fuck him again.

[Guinastasia]

What happened with his son? I know there was a big scandal recently, but I’ll be damned if I can recall it.

[danceswithcats]

@Guinastasia

What happened with his son? I know there was a big scandal recently, but I’ll be damned if I can recall it.

You’re likely speaking of Pete Jr.'s involvement in distribution of the steroid GBL to minor league teammates in Chattanooga.

[RTFirefly]

@danceswithcats

This is his last year of eligibility, so stop fucking with the man.

Not really. Most HOF inductees are there on account of the Old Timers’ Committee or whatever it’s called; they’re not hindered by a time limit.

I kinda like jrfranchi’s idea: if it’s a lifetime ban, let 'em in after they’re dead, if you can make the case then.

[danceswithcats]

@RTFirefly

Not really. Most HOF inductees are there on account of the Old Timers’ Committee or whatever it’s called; they’re not hindered by a time limit.

I kinda like jrfranchi’s idea: if it’s a lifetime ban, let 'em in after they’re dead, if you can make the case then.

Not wishing to pick a nit with you, my OP was based in part on an article which included this:

NEW YORK (AP) - The Hall of Fame’s doors will remain shut to Pete Rose, who won’t appear on the baseball writers’ ballot in his **final year ** of eligibility.

Commissioner Bud Selig will not rule on Rose’s application for reinstatement before the 2006 ballot is released Nov. 29, according to Bob DuPuy, baseball’s chief operating officer.

Bolding mine.

[JimSox5]

@danceswithcats

Not wishing to pick a nit with you, my OP was based in part on an article which included this:
Bolding mine.

It’s his final year to be on the ballot, but that doesn’t mean he can’t ever be in the HoF after this year, the Old Timer’s Committee could still vote him in. Which, I think, is even a longer shot than he has going for him now. You think people who are already in the Hall want Rose to sully their group?

[RTFirefly]

@danceswithcats

Not wishing to pick a nit with you, my OP was based in part on an article which included this:

NEW YORK (AP) - The Hall of Fame’s doors will remain shut to Pete Rose, who won’t appear on the baseball writers’ ballot in his final year of eligibility.

Bolding mine. Jimsox is right on target: it’s Rose’s last opportunity to be voted in by the sportswriters. If I’m counting right, the Old Timers Committee under its various names and in its assorted incarnations (e.g. the Committee on Baseball Veterans) has been responsible for the induction of 136 people into the HoF. During the 1990s, for instance, Veterans Committee inductees outnumbered those from the sportswriters’ ballot by 25 to 14.

Just looking at the 1990s group, a lot of the Veterans Committee inductees were managers (Durocher, Weaver), umpires (Nestor Chylak), or execs (Veeck), but many of them were players that the sportswriters had already passed over (Bunning, Cepeda, Lazzeri, etc.). (A whole lot of them were names I don’t recognize at all - are they players? managers? execs? - which reinforces Bill James’ point that a Hall of Fame inductee ought, at the very least, to be famous. But that’s a whole 'nother discussion.)

As the first link says, as of 2001, they replaced the Veterans Committee with the living membership of the HoF. They have essentially the same powers, but seem less willing to use them in the willy-nilly fashion the old committee did, thank goodness. Still, they would have the right to induct Rose anytime he became eligible - for instance, in the year after his death.