When baseball great Pete Rose died on Monday at the age of 83, everyone's mind immediately went to one place: the Hall of Fame.
Rose was given a lifetime ban because of his gambling, and his post-baseball conduct (including tax evasion) didn't help his case much.
But this writer contends what matters is his record as a player. That is stellar and deserving of induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The MLB posted a condolence honoring Rose, but it did not go well for them.
Here's the post:
Major League Baseball extends its deepest condolences to Pete Rose's family, his friends across the game, and the fans of his hometown of Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Montreal and beyond who admired his greatness, grit and determination on the field of play. May he rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/GAP4NHBAOF
— MLB (@MLB) October 1, 2024
And here's just a sample of the reactions. You'll notice a common theme:
DO BETTER and put this man in the HOF.
— Joey Swoll (@TheJoeySwoll) October 2, 2024
He should've been inducted while he was alive.
I bet this was a real struggle for y’all to write, amirite? Y’all are weak and pathetic.
— 𝑺𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌 (@navychick1993) October 1, 2024
He belongs in the Hall of Fame. #CharlieHustle
It probably was.
I didn't realize Pete rose was right handed but had 3x as many hits left handed. pic.twitter.com/w0IOn2xNMX
— R C Taylor (@littlenewsnetwk) October 1, 2024
Impressive.
Do the right thing. Would a Rose by any other name play this elite?
— Ron (@FieldTechFixer) October 2, 2024
+1000 for the play on a Shakespeare quote.
How about you keep his name out of your mouth like you did the Hall?
— Johnny Murica 🪙 (@JohnnyMurica) October 1, 2024
Oooh, and a Will Smith Oscars reference.
You cowards should have honored him before he passed…. RIP Pete
— Red Sox 4 Life (@RedSoxAlways) October 1, 2024
Yes.
Especially considering others who have been inducted -- like Barry Bonds -- and the fact MLB has opening embraced betting on the sport now.
The MLB hasn’t mentioned Pete Rose’s name in a tweet since 2016. https://t.co/2vnwCT6eL5 pic.twitter.com/d5tY44joIl
— Will Jones (@willjonesky) October 2, 2024
He was clearly persona non grata to them.
Only time you guys mentioned his name was when announcing denial of his appeal into the league and when he ultimately passed on.
— Gary Sheffield Jr. (@GarysheffieldJr) October 1, 2024
A failure by Major League Baseball as a whole. Save your condolences — you guys are phonies https://t.co/8amA7Lf3mF
It's embarrassing for baseball as an organization.
This is a longer post, but worth the read:
So a lot of the people replying to this are saying Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame
— (((Aaron Walker))) (@AaronWorthing) October 2, 2024
It seems to me that the important question is whether or not he bet on his own games and if he bet against his own team?
I think the last question is NO. I have seen sources indicating… https://t.co/hCXyqmQUXX
The post continues:
I think the last question is NO. I have seen sources indicating that he definitely bet on his own games, and he insisted he never bet against his own team. And I don’t see any evidence contradicting that last point. But I am very open to being proven wrong.
It seems to me that if they can’t prove that he bet against his own team, then I don’t see what the problem is as far as MLB is concerned. if you bet against your team, it creates a temptation to throw games and obviously that’s really terrible for the sport. But you bet for your team, then you’re giving yourself an incentive to try even harder to win. Arguably that’s good for the sport.
And here’s another question: isn’t it all kind of moot now, anyway?
With all this online sports betting these days you can be sure almost every ball player is gambling on their own games unless the leagues have taken extraordinary measures to stop them from doing it. Like I am talking about required surveillance of these ball players that I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be putting up with. You’d have to be in all of their phones, all of their computers and so forth and so on, to make sure they don’t download a gambling app. And I guess they’d have to do the same thing for all their friends and family. I just don’t think it’s possible to enforce any kind of rule on gambling anymore in today’s environment
And I’m not limiting that to baseball
So I get why in pre-internet times they might’ve wanted to make an example of Pete Rose, to try to discourage others from doing the same thing, but my guess is that the horses are out of the barn now. My guess is probably everyone is gambling on their own games. And so then to keep Rose out of the Hall of Fame because he broke a rule that isn’t really being enforced … Just seems petty. It’s like going after a person for speeding because they went 5 miles over the speed limit when we all know everyone does that. Especially now that he has passed on
Again I’m open to being proven wrong on these points but it just seems illogical to keep him out of the Hall of Fame
Incidentally, if you want to know why there’s been an explosion of these gambling apps in the last few years I believe it’s traced to a Supreme Court decision striking down a pretty ridiculous congressional law that required state legislatures to ban sports gambling. Congress could’ve probably passed a direct ban on sports gambling and they could do it probably today but they didn’t and haven’t. Instead Congress thought they could tell a state legislature what laws they had to pass and I think the Supreme Court was right to laugh that out of court.
Should be banned now? I don’t like gambling but I’m of two minds about banning it, between “gambling is bad” and my more libertarian instincts. But I feel a lot stronger that online gambling shouldn’t be allowed. There are too many dangers that the person on the other end isn’t even 18 or of sound mind. I am still of two minds, but I’m much more sympathetic to the idea that any gambling that happens needs to have a certain amount of “meat space” connection
All excellent points.
For this writer, Pete Rose was a phenomenal baseball player. He had a career .303 batting average, 4,256 career hits, 44 game hit streak, was an All Star 17 times, won the World Series three times. That's some darned good baseball.
And that should be the only criteria that matters when it comes to induction.
Pete Rose accepted a lifetime ban from baseball. Today, Pete Rose left this life. With him, the lifetime ban is now complete.
— KD 🦬⚡️🦬 (@SonOfMarshall) October 1, 2024
Put Pete Rose on the Hall of Fame ballot where he deserves to be. He’s eligible and will be a 1st ballot selection. https://t.co/pmSHqdzUI8 pic.twitter.com/Hinl6DhrTh
We'll see if MLB gives into the pressure and does the right thing.
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