Pete Rose

[TwistedCopper]

I'm a huge baseball fan, and I'm just curious to see what the majority opinion would be on this one. I'm not sold on the idea, but I lean towards keeping the ban from baseball, but putting him in the hall of fame (so long as there is mention to his ban and why). His accomplishments were too great to be forgotten as far as the history of the game is concerned, but his acts were too disgraceful to be forgotten, and no mention of his accomplishments should be without revealing how he selfishly comprimised the integrity of the game.

[L33TJ33P]

Let him back in. EVERYONE gambles at some point in their life. He never bet against the Reds so "Fixing" the game isn't an option. Let the man get what he Earned.

[Jeepster05]

I'm not so angry with him for gambling, it's just that he's denied it for 14 years and now he's fessing up to it just to make a few book sales. Away from that he was a great ball player and should be inducted into the hall of fame. Like him or not he's a legend.

[jay79cj7]

He may have never bet against the Reds, but he bet on them when he controlled who was playing. That means he could have manipulated the pitching staff (and others) for the games he was betting on, meaning he could have picked who played that game (and therefore who didn't play another game) for reasons other than the good of the Reds. Thats not too innocent. After gambling he spent the last 14 years as a well documented liar. Now he admits to the public what everybody already knew in order to sell a book, and he is supposed to be instantly forgiven and reinstated? I feel bad for the guy in that baseball is (or was) his life and he screwed it up, but if he can wait 14 years to tell the truth, I think baseball can wait and think about how to handle him a little longer. It doesn't need to be decided any time soon.

[TwistedTJ]

I think 14 years is been long enough he's been punished and learned his lesson give him what he wants

[Inspector-Gadget]

[Sacredgroove]

a player(manager) gambling on his team to win...thats just confidence in my book
pete rose was one of the greatest ever and deserves to be back in the game-even rapists and murderers can get paroled quicker than 14 years!!!
i havent been much of a baseball fan the last 10 years or so since mlb doesnt seem to care much about fans,so them taking this gambling from 15 years ago so seriously is a little ridiculous to me... they love to use the "integrity of the game" speech, but they destroyed any integrity they had long ago on their own imo :)

[Sacredgroove]

"That argument that he did not bet against the Reds is a non-starter. Rose had the authority to select the line-up: meaning he could stack the line-up for games he bet on and for games he did not bet on. How that could work to Rose's personal wagering advantage should be obvious. "


that is a great point...didnt cross my mind. i think of rose as someone that had more determination to win than about any other athlete aside from a select few....but money is a powerful draw...

[Tug-n-pull]

Looking at the BIG Pic of the world in general, I have to ask Who Cares! Sports and sports stars are such a low level concern in the real world. So why do we allow and support with hard earned money and time the sports world mass marketing hype to pay these guys millions of dollars and then treat them like they are special just for playing a game anyway. I am sure we could all find something better to talk about around the water cooler at work if we tried. As for Pete "let him eat cake" jeeze he is a lying cheat that got what he deserved. Sorry if this offeneds any of you that love sports but this is an open forum looking for thouhgs of all here. tug

[southtj]

Hey SAYS he didn't bet against his own team and we're supposed to believe him just because he says so??? He lied for the past 14 years so he's probably lying about that also.

I say keep him banned from anything remotely having to do with baseball but let him in the hall of fame with the notation of what he did in his career - good and bad. He deserves that just for his achievements while he played.

[ZBTstang]

As a HUGE baseball fan, ill tell ya one thing.... I am sick and tired of hearing about Pete Rose. I think the amount of media attention this is getting is ridiculous. The man bet on baseball, but ya know what, im sure he wasnt the only one doing it at the time, he was just one of the unfortunate ones to get caught....but you know what, thats life. Im sure we've here all done things that other people have gotten in trouble for, just we never got caught, and hence forth never got the stigma of being associated with that bad thing, and most people even critize those who have gotten caught even though theyve done it themselves. As im sure youve noticed, im kinda leaning towards both avenues on this, but either way I really dont care. There are alot more news worthy stories than Pete Rose, and frankly im sick of hearing about it. And no matter what the decision is you'll never stop hearing the bickering on either side of the argument. I just cant wait till its over, the season starts again, and there is real baseball news to talk about. But for now LETS GO PATS!

[ZBTstang]

P.S. - Im not trying to knock on your post or anything, I was just throwing in my general 2 cents

[Snitty]

this is the first i've heard of anything about it.. i don't watch tv.. and don't watch baseball... so.. from an unbiased mind.... no matter what he did... if he contributed a great deal to the sport of baseball, and was worthy at one point of being in the hall of fame... then nothing he can do will ever make him "less famous"

[TwistedCopper]

Originally Posted by ZBTstang

P.S. - Im not trying to knock on your post or anything, I was just throwing in my general 2 cents

No need to justify speaking your mind around here!

[mysharona]

i'm with the home team of "tug" on this one. baseball lost me after the 94 strike. grew up playing all year round here in florida. was a member of the Baseball Bunch-still have the card in my wallet. justice thurgood marshall once stated that the sports section was once an area to view man's accomplishment's...now with the salaries, it's little more than bragging. but if i was to have say and respond to the poll, hell let'em in. how about lawerence taylor in the nfl hall of crack cocaine...the very thing i detest, pro sports, here i am yapping about it.

[L33TJ33P]

they are going to make Pete just another Shoeless Joe Jackson. And Shoeless Joe NEVER gambled!!

[TwistedCopper]

Wasn't he (Shoeless Joe) and others banned for being involved in throwing a game? A world series, right?

I know Pete was an awesome ballplayer. Argueably one of the greatest of all time. Hell I remeber doing "Pete Rose dives" into bases as a kid. His accomplishments should be in the hall of fame for historical reasons if for no other, but it is posted in every clubhouse that anybody involved in gambling on a game they are involved in will be banned for life. He even signed an agreement to that after he was caught. The arguement that there are alot of other slimeballs playing still (take Darrell Strawberry as an example) isn't valid because you can't be kicked out of baseball for being a bad citizen, nor even an ex-con. You can, however, and should be banned for comprimising the game itself for your own greed. He's not banned because people don't like him, he's banned because he gambled. That is the rule. The rule he was well aware of and chose to ignore. Not every story has a happy ending. It's a shame that it happened, but it did.