Is it time to lift Pete Rose's lifetime ban?

[theHandpuppet]

What say, all? A Rose by any other name....

9 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Not in this life -- or the afterlife, for that matter
	3 (33%)
	Yes, but no bust in the Hall
	0 (0%)
	Yes, and he deserves to be in Cooperstown
	6 (67%)
	Undecided
	0 (0%)
	Other (please explain)
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[JayhawkSD]

1. Never, and we should some more lifetime bans. n/t

[Bully Taw]

2. he bet on baseball when he was a manager

And he bet on (and evidence suggests against) his own team. He called in to question the integrity of the game. The BlackSox did the same, and they are still banned, and rightfully so.

Steroid cheats may suffer the same fate at some point, but for now we can be sure that known steroid cheats will never get into the Hall at the hands of the BBWAA or the Veterans Committee.

[DinahMoeHum]

3. That's the tragedy of it all. If he did this solely as a PLAYER. . .

. . .he'd be in the HOF by now.

The NFL football HOF has folks like Alex Karras and Paul Hornung who got suspended for awhile for betting on games. But they were players, NOT coaches.

Problem is, Pete Rose, as a coach and manager was in a position to influence the outcome of games. THAT is why the hammer came down real hard on him, and justifiably, IMO.

[Don Hunsberger]

4. It won't happen

Pete Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. His credentials are impeccable: he has more hits than anyone who ever played the game. Baseball's problem (or really that of the Baseball Writers of America) is not so much that Rose bet on baseball, but that he never, until recently, admitted it.
He never bet against his own team, so the only person harmed by Rose's betting was .... Rose.

But the BBWA have the only votes about who gains entry into Cooperstown. And for some reason, they refuse Rose.
My guess is that, while he lives, Rose will never gain admittance.

[Zavulon]

5. You can still hurt the game betting on your own team.

For example, you can tinker with your rotation to have certain pitchers available on days when you're placing bets, making your team more likely to lose other games.

Rose lied for 15 years, and when he finally came clean it was to sell a book and it was during a Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where guys who were being welcomed into the Hall were being overshadowed by an egomaniacal gasbag who broke baseball's cardinal rule. I'd sooner vote for Mario Mendoza or any of the steroid freaks before voting for Rose.

What they should do is build a Hall of Statistical Achievement where everyone with a certain number of hits, homers, batting average, RBI and / or runs scored gains you admittance, along with similar standards for pitchers and their categories. Let everyone with 3,000 hits in, for example, and then the gasbag gets inducted into SOMETHING. I hope he never, ever, EVER gets into Cooperstown, and the Hall of Fame will cease to have meaning to me if he does.

[Divine Discontent]

7. I think that could arguably be the strongest argument

I've said it myself, while still saying he should be in the hall, but the point is, he could have used John Franco more on the days he bet a lot, or left Browning in an extra inning even though he knew he was tired or such... I seriously wish there was a record of the bets we could see. I'd love to see if he bet on the Reds on the days that Eric was out of the lineup? LOL. But yeah, if there's a reason he won't get in while alive, it would be that he was the manager, and he could influence who he used to benefit himself, even if he never did it knowingly. I'd hate to find out that one of those FOUR 2nd place finishes was caused by his gambling....

[1917]

6. -

Time will pass and he'll eventually be admitted. Look at Nixon. Half these kids never even heard of him.