Pete Rose: 20 Years And Still Serving His Sentence
Twenty years ago, Pete Rose did what Major League Baseball wanted him to do, step up and take responsibility for his alleged gambling habit. Rose, who has been cooperative since, followed orders and confessed his wrongdoing. Still not in the Hall of Fame, and still jumping when being told to jump, I cannot figure out why he has not gotten his second chance yet.
Athletes have done so many things worse than Rose on the totem pole of ethics. I am not here to rip on the other athletes, but rather convey the message that Rose is still being punished for much less. Michael Vick, a name we are all sick of hearing, ran a dogfighting ring, did his time, and is suiting up for Philadelphia. Vick was given a second chance that quick.
Steroids in baseball have more to do with altering the course of a game moreso than a manager [Rose] betting on his team to win every night. I understand that Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafel Palmeiro, A-Rod, and Big Papi will probably never see the Hall of Fame either. However, they cheated. How is betting on the team you are managing to win cheating? It is unethical, but it is not cheating.
Donte Stallworth killed another human being because he was drunk. He served some time (minimal), coughed up a small fortune, and you can bet he will be back on the field next year. How can these guys literally get away with murder, and Rose still be punished 20 years later? It makes no sense to me.
Rose is baseball’s all-time leader in hits. If Bud Selig decides that enough-is-enough already, he would be making the right decision. Selig seems to want to milk this and turn Rose’s funeral into his induction period. Selig knows he belongs.
Rose played from 1963 until 1986. Without him, there was no Big Red Machine, no Charlie Hustle, no advertisements that featured a baseball player so much. Rose did so much more good for the game than the bad he is still being judged upon.
There are common people who serve less than 20 years for murders. To keep a star like Rose out of the limelight is dumb. He is still charismatic, loves the game, and hurt no one but himself. Time is up, do the right thing and re-instate Pete Rose.
11 Responses to “Pete Rose: 20 Years And Still Serving His Sentence”
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“Twenty years ago, Pete Rose did what Major League Baseball wanted him to do, step up and take responsibility for his alleged gambling habit. Rose, who has been cooperative since, followed orders and confessed his wrongdoing. Still not in the Hall of Fame, and still jumping when being told to jump, I cannot figure out why he has not gotten his second chance yet.”
I couldn’t disagree more with the opening paragraph. Rose didn’t comply 20 years ago. He lied and lied and lied despite the mountains of evidence against him. All he did was drag baseball through the mud for 2 decades. He upstaged Hall of Fame ceremonies by showing up to sign autographs. He broke the hearts of his loyalest fans by maintaining his innocence for so long before finally admitting the truth. The guy did more to hurt baseball than anything besides steroids or the strike. And then he only comes clean when it suits him and sells a book which is still only a partial truth.
And Rose’s sentence is a figurative one. He isn’t in prison.
Take the thing an individual would cherish the most away and it is a sentence still being served. He admitted he should have confessed gambling on baseball sooner than he did. Sorry, I did not know that we were mounting a case against him here.
It’s obvious you do not like Pete Rose, and that’s fine, you have your opinion. Many people might disagree with my stance on this issue.
He did not bring a stack of 8 x 10’s to the Hall of Fame, someone called him and paid him to be there. Sorry your favorite receiver (Plaxico) did not make the story too… He would have furthered the point that the athletes of today can get away with murder and Rose will be held in baseball purgatory forever for his non-vilolent crimes.
Plaxico’s my favorite receiver? What?
I’m not mounting a case against him. I disputing your case for him. I also have a problem with comparing a real prison sentence to being kicked out of the sport you love because you can’t follow the one rule that is pounded into you from single-A on down the line: Don’t fucking cheat.
Pete Rose bet on baseball. Every player is told not to bet on baseball. Every player is told that if they bet on baseball they will get a lifetime ban.
Vick was not told he should not fight, drown, electrocute, and strangle dogs. It was an honest mistake.
Seriously though, if you bet on baseball you are out. I am 90% sure he bet on his team to lose, or he made a side bet that his starter would not go 6 innings, or something like that. Pete is out, and all confirmed roid users should be out as well.
Vick was not told he should not fight, drown, electrocute, and strangle dogs. It was an honest mistake.
I’m sure this was a joke but it still sorta misses the point. Rose’s actions (I won’t call them crimes) affected the integrity of the game. Vick and Plaxico and Stallworth, what they did had nothing to do with football. Their crimes had zero affect on the game they play. Rose is different because he rigged games (potentially). These aren’t the same violations and creating a false equivalence only muddies the waters.
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I LOVED Pete Rose as a kid. He was my favorite non-Cub. I loved the way he sprinted to first after a walk, I loved that he barreled into Ray Fosse in an All-Star game, I loved that he just piled up hit after hit after hit and just kept doing it. He was a machine.
But I do not think that he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He committed a crime against the game that threatened the integrity of the game at a far deeper level than steroids ever did.
Whether he owned up to it immediately or whether it had to be dragged out of him after years of questioning and probing is virtually irrelevant. He bet on baseball. There is no getting around it.
Even if he only ever bet on his own team to win, it had ramifications on his managing that would alter his approach to management. Sure, most of the time the goal is to win the game in front of you, but a baseball manager is guiding a team through a 162 game season. There has to be some thought given to the next game or the next week when it comes to bullpen use, how long you push your starter, etc.
At best, he altered game situations in an effort to win a personal bet. At worst, he bet against his team and potentially sabotaged them, which would put him in league with the 1919 White Sox who are in their 90th year of banishment.
Either way, it is a crime against baseball, and baseball has the right to punish him in the only real way it has left – keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.
paneech, what about John Dowd? He embarrassed that guy, said terrible things about him all those years…tried to discredit the man and his career.
What about all the gamblers who came forward and said that Rose did not bet every night on the Reds…in fact, off the top of my head, I believe he did not bet when Bill Gullickson was pitching in 1987 or something.
How does that affect the integrity of the game? The man managed games differently when he had money on the line.
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