I broke my baseball teeth cheering for The Big Red Machine
in the 1970’s. Pete Rose, aka Charlie Hustle, defined his era of baseball. He
always put 250% of himself into the game. I was thrilled for him and the Reds
when he became manager. Pete was a first round HOF pick (that was a no-brainer.)
Being a manager just added icing to the already incredible cake.
Then he was caught betting on baseball. The whole ordeal was
a nightmare for all of baseball. No one wanted to see the man that defined
baseball in the 1970’s and already had a place holder in Cooperstown, go down
for something so fundamentally wrong.
The final result: Pete Rose had indeed wagered on baseball. My
heart was broken. It was like we were suddenly in Chicago in 1919. The only
penalty the Commissioner could give was a lifetime ban, including no
Cooperstown. Charlie Hustle had just joined Shoeless Joe in the infamous
baseball ban.
Pete broke the Cardinal Rule of Baseball. He could have altered the outcome of any
game his team played with what could’ve been seen as just a managerial decision
that didn’t work out. There is no proof nor accusation that he purposely threw
a single game, but he could have. That is the big IF that will keep him from
Cooperstown.
I totally agree that Pete Rose should never be inducted into
the Hall of Fame, either in his lifetime or posthumously.
This week Sports Illustrated came out with an article
explaining their version of the Pete Dilemma. I have to say this made me rethink
a bit my baseball purism.
We have a new breed of men that have broken rules. They blatantly
cheated in an effort to become super baseball players. Rose, as a player never
cheated. The option of PED’s were not yet available for his generation.
The penalty for using performance enhancing drugs varies. It
always involves suspended games, but has never resulted in a lifetime ban. The
damage this generation of baseball players have done to the game goes much
farther than a bookies phone. These men inspired young children to use drugs
that harmed them physically and mentally. All the while glorifying cheating
because the end result was that you would make millions of dollars and possibly
break a few batting records.
I don’t thing Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens,
Sammy Sosa, and Alex Rodriguez should be in the Hall of Fame. However, the
first four names have already made to the ballots.
The line that made me stop and say “OH”:
“At times, even as recently as last year, Rose has referred
to Alex Rodriguez as his favorite player (he has also had A-Rod programmed as a
“favorite” contact in his phone), and he has suggested that players such as Bonds
and Clemens are indeed Hall worthy. But Rose has also cast sharp aspersions,
saying he could only imagine what men such as Babe Ruth and Roger Maris would
think to know that “guys came along and cheated their way past those records.”
Here is where I have changed my mind about Pete Rose. Place
his name on the ballot. Do it now while the people voting are the people that
were affected by what he did. See what they think. Let baseball’s elite be the
jury and hand down the final verdict.
Tams Nugget: We can discuss Shoeless Joe another day... I'm always open to baseball talk, especially if a beer is involved!
