06-26-2015, 01:02 PM
(06-25-2015, 03:57 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: With some notable exceptions, most MLB players are assholes in my experience. And many, like Pete, are just not that bright. The HoF has plenty of assholes and dumbasses lining their walls. Pete would have been just one of many. And I guarantee that more than one HoF player bet on baseball games. They just didn't get caught.
BTW- Speaking of dumbasses, you gotta wonder about the intelligence of the mob guys taking Pete's bets and letting him get into them for so much. Part of being a successful organized crime organization is staying under-the-radar and avoiding publicity, right. Instead these dumbasses cultivate a relationship with a celebrity. Didn't anyone figure out there would be a trail of bread crumbs leading right back to them? That's what happened with Schlicter in the mid-80's. He turned state's evidence on his bookies. An, but I digress...
I agree that Pete should be in the Hall of Fame, only as long as no evidence comes to light that he bet against his team. Unfortunately, the league doesn't see it that way. It is a matter of convenience for them. Rather than having to go the extra distance and prove the gambling was against a person's own team, they chose to just say, "If you gambled, then your gone." Like it or not, it is what it is.
Personally, I think the steroid and other perfomance-enhancing drug use is far worse than what Pete did (provided he never bet against his team). That is crossing a line and cheating to win. Ultimately, isn't that what MLB (or any league for that matter) ought to be concerned with: people breaking the rules in order to achieve an unfair outcome? Unfortunately, you'll never be able to make the case that Pete should be reinstated based upon other people breaking different rules and the outcomes of those situations.
Look at it this way, how credible can I guy be who has already been convicted of fraud? Its like every piece of evidence they got from this guy was solid.
