Balls to the wall when Pete hit the field
They called him "Charlie Hustle" (Photo: redmarketer.wordpress.com)
I am an insatiable baseball fanatic. Long after the final pitch of the World Series, months before pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in Arizona and Florida for Cactus and Grapefruit League games, I am thinking about the game, reading about the game, playing the game when I can and running computer simulations that attempt to answer those questions about which team was the greatest and who would excel in any era of the history of the game. I even used to be a member of the San Diego chapter of SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research). Didn’t make any meetings, but I contributed to the cause by purchasing some publications.
During the season, I’m in a blessed nirvana. Unfortunately, I now live in a city that isn’t conveniently close to Major League Baseball action. It’s a six-hour drive away, which doesn’t always work when you have young children. But even if it were closer, it’s expensive to attend games. I could use a payday loan or cash advance in Beaumont to help me afford one trip, but I certainly couldn’t make a habit of doing that.
I like to think about the greatest ever to play
And I don’t delude myself into thinking that off-the-field activities that have no bearing on the outcomes of games should have any influence on which players are honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Yet that’s exactly what happened to Jim Rice. He didn’t make it into the Hall until his 15th year of eligibility, solely because he wasn’t a popular player with the sportswriters who vote on such things. On the field, his stats were more than sufficient to warrant Hall of Fame recognition.
But what about Pete Rose?
He’s the all-time hit leader in Major League history. That alone should have made him a shoo-in, plus the fact that he played for two different championship teams (the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies). Yet what has kept Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame is the fact that he gambled on baseball while he was a manager. Let’s ignore the fact that when he bet on his own team, he bet to win. The powers that be feel that the integrity of the game was besmirched, and Pete Rose has had to pay.
Now the debt may be paid in full
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, MLB commissioner Bud Selig is “seriously considering” reinstating Pete Rose into Major League baseball. This comes almost 20 years after he was banned from working in the sport. Reinstatement would mean that Rose would become eligible for the Hall of Fame vote. Likely, it also means he’d secure some sort of PR position with the Cincinnati Reds, the team who benefited from Pete Rose when he was in his playing prime.
The New York Daily News speculates that Hank Aaron’s advocacy of Pete for inclusion in the Hall of Fame during the recent induction weekend for Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice may be what has spurred Commissioner Bug Selig into action on the matter. Aaron, a Hall of Famer and respected elder statesman of the game, puts it simply: “I would like to see Pete in. He belongs there.”
“Reconfigure your life, Pete.”
Pete Rose played baseball as if his life depended upon the outcome. Always. (Photo: ericdoerr.com)
That’s one of the things late commissioner Bart Giamatti required of Rose if he was to be reinstated. Five years ago, when talk of Pete Rose reinstatement flared up again, Selig didn’t feel that Rose had lived up to that requirement. However, not everyone would agree with such an assessment.
“I think a lot of the guys feel that it’s been 20 years now for Pete, and would lean toward leniency and time served,” one Hall of Famer who wished to remain nameless said to the Daily News. “If he had admitted it in the first place and apologized way back then, he’d probably be in the Hall by now.”
Is contrition all it would have taken?
I’ve heard Pete Rose say on multiple occasions that he won’t apologize for something that didn’t happen. I believe what we have here is a failure to communicate, as he is probably saying he didn’t bet against his team, and that that should exonerate him. While I believe it should, baseball doesn’t view it that way. Yet Major League Baseball has made numerous horrible decisions, particularly about which players should and should not be in the Hall of Fame. Thus, I take their proclamations with a grain of salt.
What if Rose had gone with the flow and apologized? It’s possible he would have been reinstated earlier, but he felt holding to his own principles of right and wrong was more important. I can respect that, but I’m curious to see whether Commissioner Selig will lay down conditions for Rose’s reinstatement, and what exactly those conditions will be. Perhaps baseball still wants the apology Rose has refused to give. Or perhaps steroids have distracted us enough that something like the Pete Rose scandal is less relevant. Whatever the case, if Pete Rose is reinstated, he’ll be depending upon the Veterans’ Committee to be voted in, since he’s been away from the game for more than 15 years.
How will they view Pete Rose?
On Hall of Famer said this: “I know there are still guys who feel strongly against him. And I don’t know if that would change even if Selig clears him.” That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement. Yet the Hall shames itself by keeping Rose out, in my opinion. No morals clause should apply here, as many members of the Hall were racists, criminals, perpetrators of domestic violence, users of performance enhancing drugs (”greenies,” or amphetamines) or simply cheaters who found whatever advantage they could to win. Heck, even Babe Ruth is known to have used a corked bat on occasion. If steroids had been around, players of his era would have used them. Let’s not kid ourselves. Members of “the greatest generation” and earlier weren’t magically above temptation.
Me, I’m often tempted to use a payday loan or cash advance in Beaumont to help buy a ticket to go to Cooperstown, New York. That’s where the Baseball Hall of Fame is located. When I go, I’d like to see a plaque with Pete Rose’s name on it. If I were to do such a thing, I’d apply right here.
Related Videos:
