The Pete Rose Thread

[Bengalzona]

(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 The rule keeping him out is outdated and no longer really is enforceable.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.

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.