Pete Rose SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame

Pete is a gem. How he can pull of sanctimonious over this issue is amazing.

I don't think Pete Rose would be able to tell the truth if Jack Bauer worked him over.

 

Pete Rose is a scumbag, but he was a Hall of Fame player.

At some point I tired of reading about Rose. I knew he bet on games as a manager, but didn't realize he bet on games as a player. I may not be old enough to remember, but did anyone, at anytime, ever question the merits of how Pete Rose played the game?

If Bonds/Clemens/any known cheater is voted in, how is Rose kept out?

 

DID YOU BET ON BASEBALL?
I-I-I don't know.
DAMNIT WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!

 

They are not equal. Rose bet on his teams to lose (even if he denies this). I would wager that he threw games on purpose. People on roids don’t take them with the intention of losing.

 

I get a little tired of people trying to say Rose should be in the Hall of Fame for what he did as a player, and that we shouldn't hold it against him for what he did as a manager.

Again, let me shout it from the highest peak, Rose made it impossible to divide the two because he was a player-manager for the Reds. As Starman points out, he put himself into countless games when he was awful.

We really don't know when Rose started betting on games, but it's funny that we're supposed to believe he didn't start betting on games he managed until after he was retired simply because he says so, when he's been a proven liar again and again throughout his life.

Screw him. If you want to hold him up as some kind of rough-and-tumble, hard-working hayseed whose gritty hustle embodied the ideals your parents wanted you to live up to, and that his headfirst, balls-to-wall, dirt-eating style reminds you of all those afternoons you and your dad watched the Reds in silence, either from your living room or from the bleachers, be my guest.

But he's a cocksucker of the highest order, and broke the only rule in baseball that you're not supposed to break, then lied about it until he was desperate for money. Keep him out of the Hall of Fame, even in death. If only because his soul deserves no more satisfaction than he does.

 

I knew I could rely on DD for significant germs of relevance, and he's come through, again.

PR is so much his father's son, it's incredible. Do what you have to do, say what you have to say . . . no matter what. And in Pete's case, the bullshit machine has been on for so long, and has spewed out so much smoke and dust, I doubt even he's aware just where the truth ends and the horsecrap begins, any more.

The kind of guy you could have a beer or four, with . . . but don't leave your wallet on the table, OK? That's my take.

 

He broke the only rule you're not supposed to break? Does that mean all other forms of cheating are okay?

I wrote my last post poorly, but I'm actually okay with Rose not being in. However, if Bonds/Clemens and other players who have evidence of cheating against them are voted in, then I feel Rose should be in as well.

Cheating through PEDs and betting for/against your team, in my opinion, are both terrible, terrible things. I'm more in favor of banning players in both instances.

Many people have said Bonds and Clemens were Hall of Fame caliber before they allegedly began using PEDs. Rose was certainly a Hall of Fame player before the period of his career that came into question.

In my mind, Rose has more merit as a player than Bonds or Clemens. Bonds cheated to become a completely different ball player than he was earlier in his career. While the evidence against Clemens is less damning at this point (compared to Bonds), it certainly appears now that his career was significantly lengthened through use of PEDs.

I don't mean to justify the gambling actions of Rose. I just don't see how his actions are worse than those of Bonds and Clemens.

 

I understand that the steroids era has perhaps given Rose an argument, but really, the difference is that Rose apparently bet against his team, which cuts to the heart of the matter. At least those using steroids, while surely harming the integrity of the game, weren't at any point trying to lose.

 

On the issue of whether Pete bet on baseball as a player, I'll offer this tidbit:

My dad worked at the local horse racetrack behind the windows for much of the 70s. he saw Rose on more than a few occasions when the Reds were in town.

The man had the gambling jones going then. I can't say he bet on baseball, but it's certainly not a far leap to go from the ponies to the game he played.

 

Seahawk, Rule 21 has been posted in clubhouses since shortly after the Black Sox scandal in 1919. It reads:

Baseball didn't even have rules against steroids until Fay Vincent wrote some half-hearted memo in 1991 that no one knew about and could not enforce because it had to be agreed upon in collective bargaining. So yes, there is a big difference.

 

He's a Kentucky boy.

He loves the horses.

He even loves the dogs. Loves the 1-2 quinella.

 

I'm going to say this once, and then sit back, and watch the carnage unfold on this thread with a tub of extra-buttery before Moddy locks it after about 8 pages.

Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.

There.