Should Pete Rose be reinstated?

I'm not looking to be a snot, but if it devolves into a fan vote, then we're at the America's Choice Awards, which is akin to Citizen Journalism. You can understand our apprehension.

 

Since the formation of what is now major league baseball in 1876 it has been consistently maintained that betting on baseball games is the one unforgivable transgression (the first season of the NL in 1876 was marked by a huge game-fixing scandal resulting in lifetime banishments for star players).

From time to time (especially in the 1910s) they have been more or less lax in enforcing it, but it has always been the preeminent rule on the books.

 

I thought the preeminent rule was "No Pepper"?

 

I never suggested it be a fan vote. But why yoke journalists into the voting process for a tourist attraction?

 

Any one that thinks Pete Rose doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame is a complete moron. So many players have cheated the game so much worse than Rose yet they are in. Get Pete back in the game it would be fun to see him manage a team again.

 

And the really unfortunate thing about the Louisville gambling scandal (which occurred primarily in 1877, although a few games were supposedly thrown in '76), was that the players involved supposedly did it because Louisville wasn't paying them their salaries. They figured they had to earn money some way, so they threw some games.

 

Yeah, and game-fixing was VERY common in the National Association, the predecessor of the National League, and while technically illegal, it was rarely penalized, so in THAT case the players could credibly argue "nobody ever told us not to do it before."

But one of the major selling points when the NL was formed was that the games were going to be legitimate, not influenced by gamblers.

 

Yes. What he did on the field is different than in the clubhouse. As a manager, no. As a player, yes.