Shumkoolie
Legend
Silver Level
This article pretty much sums up the whole Pete Rose saga, ending off with the ominous words:
And then ... the sound he heard Monday was the door slamming on him. Forever.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14366434/door-slams-shut-pete-rose
Thanks to Jayson Stark of ESPN for the story. Being a baseball history nut, like I am, I've been following the Pete Rose story for a long time. I started following baseball in the early to mid 1980's, just as his phenomenal career was winding down. I saw his base hit off Eric Show to become the all-time hit king, passing Ty Cobb.
What should have happened is Pete Rose, 5 years after retiring from Major League Baseball, should have been in Cooperstown, making a speech, as a first ballot Hall of Famer, joining the immortals the preceded him, like Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Johnson, Williams, Foxx, Young, Hornsby, Mathewson, McGraw, Ott, Mack, Aaron, Mays, Musial, and on and on. Instead, on August 24th, 1989, Pete Rose was placed on baseball's permanently ineligible list (PIL) because he broke Rule 21(d), paragraph two:
"Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible."
The Baseball Hall of Fame, not long after, passed a rule declaring all those on the PIL ineligible to be on the ballot for election by the BBWAA.
Recently, Rob Manfred reviewed the Pete Rose case, something that his predecessors, Bud Selig and Fay Vincent did not do. He ruled that Rose will remain on the PIL, as he as not demonstrated sufficiently that he has "reconfigured his life".
Now, at 74 years of age, Rose will live out the rest of his life, not as the Great American story of the baseball hero who played the game the right way, but rather, as a tragic, almost Shakespearian-like character.
This has become such a hot button issue on Facebook. So many people feel that he is deserving of reinstatement, and I understand why, because we live in a society that believes in second chances. I agree with that, but here's where many peoples' thinking is flawed. Rose had 26 years to deserve the forgiveness that he sought. But, he spent those years, first denying he bet on baseball games, then, finally coming clean, but not really coming clean. He tried to paint himself as the victim here, and that's definitely not the sign of somebody who's truly sorry for what he did.
To me, it's a no brainer, and it's sad for me to say it because he played the game the way it was meant to be played, with his best effort every day he came to the ballpark. My heart tells me Pete Rose needs to be in the Hall of Fame, but the way these years unfolded, it would have been a huge error on MLB's part to reinstate him, and Manfred's legacy as commissioner would have been tarnished forever, regardless of what he did after the Rose affair.
What do you think? Is this an exaggeration, or do you agree with what I said? Do you feel Rose deserves to be reinstated by baseball?
And then ... the sound he heard Monday was the door slamming on him. Forever.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14366434/door-slams-shut-pete-rose
Thanks to Jayson Stark of ESPN for the story. Being a baseball history nut, like I am, I've been following the Pete Rose story for a long time. I started following baseball in the early to mid 1980's, just as his phenomenal career was winding down. I saw his base hit off Eric Show to become the all-time hit king, passing Ty Cobb.
What should have happened is Pete Rose, 5 years after retiring from Major League Baseball, should have been in Cooperstown, making a speech, as a first ballot Hall of Famer, joining the immortals the preceded him, like Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Johnson, Williams, Foxx, Young, Hornsby, Mathewson, McGraw, Ott, Mack, Aaron, Mays, Musial, and on and on. Instead, on August 24th, 1989, Pete Rose was placed on baseball's permanently ineligible list (PIL) because he broke Rule 21(d), paragraph two:
"Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible."
The Baseball Hall of Fame, not long after, passed a rule declaring all those on the PIL ineligible to be on the ballot for election by the BBWAA.
Recently, Rob Manfred reviewed the Pete Rose case, something that his predecessors, Bud Selig and Fay Vincent did not do. He ruled that Rose will remain on the PIL, as he as not demonstrated sufficiently that he has "reconfigured his life".
Now, at 74 years of age, Rose will live out the rest of his life, not as the Great American story of the baseball hero who played the game the right way, but rather, as a tragic, almost Shakespearian-like character.
This has become such a hot button issue on Facebook. So many people feel that he is deserving of reinstatement, and I understand why, because we live in a society that believes in second chances. I agree with that, but here's where many peoples' thinking is flawed. Rose had 26 years to deserve the forgiveness that he sought. But, he spent those years, first denying he bet on baseball games, then, finally coming clean, but not really coming clean. He tried to paint himself as the victim here, and that's definitely not the sign of somebody who's truly sorry for what he did.
To me, it's a no brainer, and it's sad for me to say it because he played the game the way it was meant to be played, with his best effort every day he came to the ballpark. My heart tells me Pete Rose needs to be in the Hall of Fame, but the way these years unfolded, it would have been a huge error on MLB's part to reinstate him, and Manfred's legacy as commissioner would have been tarnished forever, regardless of what he did after the Rose affair.
What do you think? Is this an exaggeration, or do you agree with what I said? Do you feel Rose deserves to be reinstated by baseball?
