The Pete Rose Thread

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(06-24-2015, 10:39 AM)yellowxdiscipline Wrote: Pete lied. There are worse things out there. He's a crappy human being no doubt about that. The fact remains that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. If you keep him out of the Hall of Fame then what's the point of even having a HOF. If the whole purpose is to honor a player for his achievements on the field, and you refuse to honor the all time hits leader, then you're doing it wrong. When they changed the eligibility requirements to purposely keep him out, that was just totally effed up.

At this point its just easier for Manfred to just wash his hands of the situation and let Pete back into baseball in some capacity. Sure you might have a few baseball purist pissed off for a while, but in return your giving back a whole fan base one of their most treasured players. People who are in the anti Pete camp will eventually get over it and focus their negative energy on something else. The rule keeping him out is outdated and no longer really is enforceable. It was put in place to keep players or managers from fixing games, and there is no evidence out there that supports any claims that Pete fixed games. He bet on them because he has a gambling problem, its that simple.

If we can forgive a guy like Josh Hamilton relapse after relapse, get him some support, then why cant we do the same for a guy like Rose with a different kind of addiction?  MLB would win over a lot of people if they took the high road, let Pete back in and tried to get him some help, then rather looking like the vindictive organization they currently look like at this moment.

I wrote a letter to Bud Selig around 1995 about this very topic.....only the names have changed.  One player that REALLY sticks out, and I used as a basis for my arguments, was Steve Howe.  He was banned for life and reinstated over his cocaine abuse......he was suspended SEVEN times over the course of his career.  Cocaine is illegal everywhere, gambling is not.  Makes no sense in the grand scheme of things......yeah, I know...."integrity of the game" and shit.  If they were so worried about the integrity of the game, then Roger Marris' and Hank Aaron's records would be reinstated......