Tag Archives: Pete Rose

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Charlie Hustle got what he deserved

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One of Major League’s Baseball’s fiercest competitors has died and thus he never will be around if the MLB makes what I consider to be a regretful decision.

That would be to include Pete Rose in the Hall of. Fame.

Rose, the all-time leader in hits, at-bats and games played is gone. His legacy, though, will remain stained forever by a decision he made consciously and with a full understanding of the consequences of that decision.

In the late 1980s, Rose bet on baseball games. He competed in some of those games on which he wagered. The MLB rule book speaks with crystal clarity: Anyone caught betting on baseball shall be banned from the organization for the rest of his life.

OK, now he’s gone. Does that mean he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame?  If I were King of the World, I’d say “no!”

The late Bart Giamatti, MLB’s commissioner at the time of the infraction, made the right call in banning Charlie  Hustle from the game.

Rose wasn’t the most talented player ever to suit up for big-league hardball. He arguably was the most driven. Sadly, though, that drive led him astray … and he paid the price he knew he would pay.

Sports news

‘No!’ to reinstating Pete Rose

I am directing these brief remarks to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Mr. Commissioner, do not knuckle or buckle under the pressure to reinstate Pete Rose, to bring the former Charlie Hustle back into MLB’s good graces. Rose has asked Manfred to be reinstated. He cites the relatively light punishment given to the Houston Astros for their high-tech sign-stealing in the 2017 World Series. C’mon, man. That’s apples and oranges.

Rose bet on baseball games. The MLB rules, which the commissioners knows better than I do, state categorically: Anyone who bets on big-league baseball games is subject to a lifetime ban from the game.

Lifetime ban needs to mean what it declares.

Pete Rose is still drawing breath among us. He broke a clear-cut, unambiguous rule. He should pay the price that he received from one of Manfred’s esteemed predecessors, the late A. Bartlett Giamatti.

Yes, he played a great game of hardball … even with supposedly limited athletic skill. He bet on baseball seemingly because he had a fetish he couldn’t control.

That’s too bad. He broke the rules. Pete Rose doesn’t deserve reinstatement.

Sports news

Resounding ‘no!’ on Rose for the Hall of Fame

One of those “like and share” memes showed up on my Facebook feed this morning; it pitches the idea that former Major League Baseball star Pete Rose deserves induction into the baseball Hall of Fame.

I want to “share” this view: Absolutely not! There is no way Rose should be inducted into MLB’s hallowed shrine.

OK, I get that “Charlie Hustle” is the all-time hit leader. I realize he won three batting titles during his career playing for the Cincinnati Reds, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Montreal Expos. He was one of the leaders of the Big Red Machine in the early 1970s. Yeah, the guy was a serious overachiever on the baseball field. Rose wasn’t blessed with great natural talent, but he worked his a** off to achieve excellence on the baseball field.

He also had a gambling problem. He bet on baseball games. Rose got caught doing it.

The baseball rulebook has a significant penalty attached to those who are caught gambling on baseball games. It calls for a “lifetime” ban from the game. That means, as I have interpreted it, that he can never be brought back into the game. Thus, he cannot be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Second chance? Forget about it!

Criminal defendants get sentenced to lifetime prison terms “with no possibility of parole.” I am not equating what Rose did with criminals who commit crimes such as murder or sexual assault, but the baseball rulebook does not stipulate a provision for a suspension of the “lifetime” ban from baseball.

You may accuse me of being a harda** if you wish. My love for the game of baseball is intact. Pete Rose sullied his on-the-field accomplishments by succumbing to his off-the-field weakness.

He doesn’t belong in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Sports news

MLB trying its best to ruin the Grand Old Game

I saw this item about a so-called “experiment” that Major League Baseball is pondering … and promptly flipped out!

MLB is considering a plan to monkey around with extra-inning baseball games. The plan is to place a runner at second base to start the 10th inning of a game.

As I understand it, the visiting team that bats first in the extra inning would have a runner at second — in other words in “scoring position” when the hitter comes to the plate. I presume that the home team gets to do the same thing when it comes to bat at the bottom of the inning.

My plea is this: Do … not … do … this!

I guess the big leagues have grown weary of extra-inning games going into the wee hours. My answer? That’s too damn bad!

Baseball is a game built on tradition. As such, I remain a purist in the sport.

It was bad enough that the American League instituted the designated hitter rule in the early 1970s. Then they decided to enact inter-league play during the regular season, rather than having teams play each other exclusively within their leagues; the old way made the World Series all the more exciting when the American League and National League champs would face each other for the first time that season.

It got worse when inter-league play allowed National League teams to use the DH when they were playing in AL cities.

Then they installed lights at Wrigley Field, allowing the Chicago Cubs to play night baseball games.

Let’s not forget that MLB now has instant replay reviews, holding up the pace of play.

Let’s leave the game alone. If these games go on seemingly forever, let ’em play hardball.

***

One more thing: Pete Rose does not belong in the Hall of Fame. He bet on baseball. The rule says doing so results in a “lifetime ban” from the game. He bet. He got caught. He should pay the price.

I had to get that off my chest, too.

Sports news

Rose in the Hall of Fame? No way

pete_rose_webstory

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is a man after my own heart.

He has told Pete Rose categorically this: No matter how great you were on the field of play, you do not deserve reinstatement in the game you dominated for so many years.

I totally agree with Manfred.

It’s been speculated that Manfred’s edict might open the door — if only slightly — for Rose to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I hope that isn’t the case, either. Most experts, though, say that Manfred’s decision slams the Hall of Fame door shut — forever.

Look, I am as big a baseball fan as any red-blooded American male. I used to love watching Rose play hardball. He got more out of his fairly limited natural athletic ability than any 10 players who ever donned a uniform. Rose played hard and he played to win.

Even in all-star games. Who can forget when he bowled catcher Ray Fosse over in the 1970 all-star game, injuring Fosse so severely that the Cleveland Indians star never recovered fully?

That said, he also violated one of MLB’s cardinal rules. He bet on the game. The rule book stipulates clearly: violation of the no-betting rule shall result in a lifetime ban from the game.

As others have noted, MLB instituted the rule as a reaction to the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” betting scandal that has kept Shoeless Joe Jackson — another Hall of Fame-quality player — out of the Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine.

I also am acutely aware that the Hall of Fame is full of assorted scoundrels; they are drunks, racists, womanizers, drug users … you name it, they’ve done it and are still in the Hall of Fame.

The Grand Old Game doesn’t stipulate — in writing — that holding racist views or bar-hopping the night before a big game disqualifies you from having anything to do with the game.

It does with betting.

Pete Rose bet on baseball. As Manfred said, Rose “has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing … or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of all the circumstances that led to his permanent eligibility in 1989.”

Sports news

Let’s end the Pete Rose campaign for HOF

How about we simply give up trying to debate whether Pete “The Gambler” Rose deserves to be in baseball’s Hall of Fame?

I’ve grown tired of the discussion.

ESPN has aired a segment that revealed pretty conclusive evidence that Rose bet on baseball while he was playing the game, not just managing a team.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/roses-hof-chances-now-all-but-gone/ar-AAbYo90

Didn’t the man dubbed “Charlie Hustle” deny all those years that he never bet on baseball while he played the game? Didn’t that stand as a possible qualifier that could get him inducted into the Hall of Fame?

Good grief. MLB’s rulebook is as clear as it gets.

Betting on baseball results in a lifetime ban. Pete Rose is still among us, last I saw. That means he doesn’t qualify for the hall.

He at first denied betting on games while he managed the Cincinnati Reds, where he played most of his career. Then he said, well, yeah I bet on games — but not on games involving my teams.

What else might we learn about this guy? He has said all along he didn’t bet while playing the game. That denial now appears headed for the crapper.

I understand fully that Rose got more hits than anyone else in the history of the game. I get that he played his guts out and got the most of the talent he had, which — truth be told — wasn’t as much as many other players of his era. He was a stellar hitter.

He also was a compulsive gambler — who broke one of baseball’s cardinal rules.

I know the Hall of Fame is full of racists, drunks, drug users, womanizers — and even a couple of pitchers known for throwing spitballs.

None of those sins, though, translates to lifetime bans.

Gambling on baseball? That’s the deal breaker.

Sports news

Rose's ban from baseball should stick

Being a hard-ass isn’t really my style, but there’s something about Pete Rose that chaps me royally.

The former great baseball player has been banned from baseball for life because he bet on the game. That’s the rule: You bet on baseball, you face a lifetime ban. It’s in the rule book, which I’m certain Rose knew when he broke the rule.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/04/23/rob-manfred-pete-rose-all-star-game/

Now we hear that Major League Baseball, which will have its all-star game this summer in Cincinnati, will allow Rose to play some role in the game ceremonies.

I’ll stipulate a few things: First, I know that Rose had a Hall of Fame career. Second, I also know that he’s applied for reinstatement and Hall of Fame eligibility. Third, I also know that the Hall of Fame is full of racists, drunks, womanizers, adulterers and overall reprobates. Fourth, I also know that no one in the Hall of Fame was caught betting on baseball.

Pete Rose deserves reinstatement on one condition. MLB needs to reinstate Shoeless Joe Jackson, who in 1919 was caught betting on baseball in the infamous Black Sox Scandal in which Jackson and other Chicago White Sox players were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series. Indeed, the no-betting rule was installed because of Shoeless Joe’s actions.

If Major League Baseball sees fit to reinstate the late, great Joe Jackson, then it ought to follow suit with Pete Rose.

First things first, Commissioner Rob Manfred.

 

national news, Sports news

My vote on Pete Rose for Hall? No

Mike Downey has written a column for CNN.com in which he argues Pete Rose should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I now will write that Rose doesn’t belong there. Not ever.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/21/opinion/downey-pete-rose-hall-of-fame/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7

Pete Rose got more hits than anyone else in baseball history. He got more plate appearances and at-bats, too, than anyone else. He played in six World Series. He won three National League batting titles. He was a hell of a ballplayer.

He also broke a cardinal rule in baseball. It’s in the rulebook. The punishment is a lifetime ban from the game. Period. End of story.

Rose bet on baseball while he was still active in the game. He didn’t bet on his team to lose. Still, Downey knows that the rulebook is as clear as possible about betting on baseball. You bet on a game and get caught … you’re out!

Downey offers up the lame excuse that other baseball greats have gotten into the Hall of Fame while carousing late at night. Downey writes: “They say gambling is a sickness, an addiction, like liquor or drugs. They tell us gamblers need help. In the same breath, they tell us funny stories about the Hall of Fame baseball greats who bar-hopped all night, came to the park drunk, played with a hangover, hahaha, what a guy. Oh, that Babe. Oh, that Mickey.”

I get all that. The rulebook, though, doesn’t have a moral turpitude clause in it. Baseball players are allowed to be a lot of unflattering things: drunks, womanizers, racists. Men who fit all those descriptions are in the Hall of Fame.

Those who bet on the game? No can do.

Sorry, Pete. You were a great player. You got more out of your skills than almost anyone who ever swung a bat.

It’s that gambling thing that should keep you out of the Hall of Fame.

Uncategorized

Rose in the Hall of Fame? No way

Gosh, I hate disagreeing with a pal of mine, but I can’t let this one go.

Lance Lahnert, sports editor of the Amarillo Globe-News, said in his weekly “My 2 Cents” column today that Pete Rose belongs in Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Umm, I don’t believe so, Lance.

“I saw that Sports Illustrated put Pete Rose on its magazine cover since it’s been 25 years since his banning from baseball,” Lahnert writes. “It’s a tired issue if Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame or not. Rose didn’t bet on baseball as a player setting the all-time hit record. He belongs in the Hall of Fame as a player.”

There you have it. That’s what my buddy said about Rose.

Why do I disagree with him?

Well, for starters I’m kind of a fuddy-duddy about some things — such as rules and regulations. I believe they ought to be obeyed to the letter.

Big league baseball has this clause in its rulebook that says that betting on baseball shall result in a lifetime ban from the game. By definition that means the offender doesn’t qualify for the Hall of Fame, no matter how prodigious his statistics.

Rose’s stats are impressive, starting with him being the all-time career leader in base hits.

He had a stellar career with the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos. I do no deny that he played the game with unbridled verve and enthusiasm that more than likely made up for whatever pure athletic skill he lacked. He was a gamer.

But while managing the Reds he bet on games involving his team. That darn rule book stipulates in black and white that betting on baseball games while being active in the game is a no-no. It doesn’t say that doing it as a manager but not a player somehow shades the infraction enough to allow Hall of Fame induction as a player; indeed, Rose compiled only a so-so record as a manager.

It pains me to insist that MLB continue to ban one of the game’s true stars from the Hall of Fame. However, the guy committed a major violation. The punishment is clear. He’s banned for life. Save the Hall of Fame for the players — and managers — who followed the rules.

Uncategorized

Rose shows off his ignorance

Pete Rose once was a heck of a baseball player — who then got caught violating one of the cardinal rules of the game. He placed bets on games involving his own team.

Then-Major League Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti made it clear to Rose: You’re out. You’re banned for life.

Now the all-time hit king has decided he chose the wrong vice. He should have used illegal drugs, or beat up on his wife/girlfriend, he said. That way he’d get a second — maybe a third — chance at getting back into baseball’s good graces.

Rose shows why he’s such a slug.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/08/12/pete-rose-i-should-have-picked-alcohol-or-i-should-have-picked-up-beating-up-my-wife-or-girlfriend/related/

He probably hasn’t been paying attention to the piles of invective that have been heaped on those who’ve been caught using performance-enhancing drugs. Narcissist that he is, Rose cares only about what’s been said about him since his lifetime ban went into effect in 1989.

I’ve seen the clause in the baseball handbook that deals with gambling. It says anyone caught gambling is banned from the game for the rest of his life. Rose knew that, yes? But he did it anyway.

As for the PED scandal that’s erupted once again with the pending suspension of super-duperstar Alex Rodriguez and a dozen other players, baseball only recently enacted a ban on the drugs’ use. And that was after other big-time players — Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens to name just four — either were suspected of using them or actually admitted to it.

Rose doesn’t deserve to be reinstated. He remains what I’ve thought him to be, a top-notch athlete with gutter-level morals.