It has to happen. John (on this blog) pointed it out. Pete Rose was banned for life from baseball because of gambling. It is alleged by some that Bart Giamatti had a side deal with Pete that he would let him back in within a year, but a few weeks later, Bart died. Faye Vincent, who took over after Giamatti’s death, was a literal person who would have none of that, so Pete Rose was never reinstated. But now.. things have changed: Pete Rose has died! His lifetime ban is over, and he should now be inducted into the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. I think I will call my friend, the president of the HOF, Josh Rawitch. In the past, he was the Dodgers Communication Director. This photo (with Pete in a wheelchair) was taken the day before he died.
Included in the photo were Dave Conception, George Foster, Tony Perez, and Ken Griffey, Sr. Pete died the next day. I grew up near Cincinnati, Ohio. My father was a Reds and Bengals fan, and we usually went to six to ten baseball games a year. Pete Rose was the embodiment of what a baseball player was all about. I was not a fan of the man, but I had to admire how he played the game.
I live in a small community on the south side of Indianapolis, Indiana, in a little town called Mooresville (population 9,997). Actually, I live a half mile outside the city limits. Mooresville High School has a great baseball program, and Dave Rose, Pete’s brother, used to be an Assistant Coach. Let’s make it clear that I do not know the man. I have seen him, but we run in different circles. He was in the hospitality business as a chef at Pete’s Restaurants until they failed, as a Chef at the Brick Yard Crossing, and finally, as a cook at Pit Stop BBQ in Brownsburg. There isn’t much information as to whether Dave Rose is still alive. He would be almost 80 years old and does not coach anymore. He lived in Indianapolis (in the hood).
Greg Doyle, a local sportswriter, wrote about Dave Rose back in 2015. In part, he said:
He’s standing just inside the door of Pit Stop BBQ & Grill in Brownsburg, like he’s waiting for me. Only, he’s not. He has no idea that I’m coming, or even who I am. But he’s standing there, and this is opportunity knocking, so I decide to test David Rose.
— GREG DOYLE
It starts like this, one stranger to another. I ask: How are you?
Rose: “If I was any better, I’d have a twin.”
There it is. My opening. Instead of nodding and moving past to go eat, I pretend to give him the once-over.
You know, I tell David Rose, you look like somebody. Do you have a twin? You look familiar.
“Nope,” he says. “Maybe you’ve been here before.”
Nah. But you sure do look … ah, I tell him. I know who you look like.
There it is. Just tested David Rose, threw out the bait. Time for him to gobble it up and tell me who he is. Or at least, who somebody else is. Time for him to bask in the glow of his older brother, one of the most famous athletes of the 20th century.
David Rose doesn’t nibble. He just stares at me. He’s wondering why I’m here, what’s my angle, and too late I realize what just happened. I wasn’t testing Pete Rose’s younger brother.
Pete Rose’s brother was testing me.
David Rose tells me how it is, right up front. We slide into a booth after the lunch rush at the Pit Stop, where he’s been a cook since it opened a few years ago, and he volunteers that “people use me to get to Pete.”
He says it with no hard feelings. After 66 years David Rose knows what he knows. And what he knows, what he has learned about human nature, is that people will take until someone tells them no. Over the years David Rose learned how to say no.
Just a few minutes of Pete’s time. That’s all they want. Just one autograph or better yet, one autograph show. Or maybe he can speak at my golf event. He’s your brother. Ask him for me, huh?
David Rose can’t escape his brother, not that he wants to. He admires the guy. Loves him. Wishes Pete wouldn’t come to Indy just for an autograph show or to see LeBron James visit the Pacers. Wishes his brother would come to Indy to see him. But that’s life, and life has been good to David Rose.
The entire interview is HERE.
Reds principal owner and managing partner Bob Castellini said in a statement that Rose was “one of the fiercest competitors the game has ever seen” and added: “We must never forget what he accomplished.” It’s time for Pete Rose to enter the Hall of Fame now that his lifetime ban has been completed.
Longtime Reds teammate and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench posted his reaction to Rose’s death saying, “My heart is sad. I loved you Peter Edward. You made all of us better. No matter the life we led. No one can replace you.”
A 17-time All-Star, the switch-hitting Rose played on three World Series winners. He was the National League MVP in 1973 and World Series MVP two years later. He holds the major league record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). He was the leadoff man for one of baseball’s most formidable lineups with the Reds’ championship teams of 1975 and 1976, featuring Hall of Famers Perez, Bench and Joe Morgan.
But no milestone approached his 4,256 hits, breaking his hero Ty Cobb’s 4,191 and signifying his excellence no matter the notoriety that followed. It was a total so extraordinary that you could average 200 hits for 20 years and still come up short. Rose’s secret was consistency and longevity. Over 24 seasons, all but six played entirely with the Reds, Rose had 200 hits or more 10 times, and more than 180 four other times. He batted .303 overall, even while switching from second base to outfield to third to first, and he led the league in hits seven times.
“Every summer, three things are going to happen,” Rose liked to say, “the grass is going to get green, the weather is going to get hot, and Pete Rose is going to get 200 hits and bat .300.” Rose didn’t drink or smoke but indulged himself in other ways. He cared openly about money, vowing to become the first singles hitter to make $100,000 a year and leaving the Reds for the Phillies after declaring free agency at the end of the 1978 season (Rose returned in 1984). He was a longtime womanizer whose two marriages ended in divorce and who acknowledged fathering a child out of wedlock. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to two charges of filing false income tax returns and served five months in prison, the prosecutor calling his sentencing ″a sad day for those young Americans to whom Pete Rose was an idol.″
I will never forget how Pete Rose played the game:
Johnny Bench spoke of him yesterday:
Pete Rose is gone. The ban has been lifted. He belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the lovable scoundrel that he is! In the Wall Street Journal today, Jason Gay wrote this:
Pete Rose predicted his own bittersweet ending.
“Would it be horrible if I died next week and they put me in the Hall of Fame next year?” he asked in the recent, rollicking documentary, “Charlie Hustle and the Matter of Pete Rose.”
“That’s happened to a lot of people,” Rose continued. “They forgive them when they die.”
Will they?
Discussion (65)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Ok, I am going to shut this down. What started out as a good debate is degenerating into name calling and empty rhetoric.
I have found that when some people feel they are losing an argument, the loser resorts to slander.
Thanks for your civil comments.
Rose agreed to a permanent ban not a lifetime ban. Rose violated the no. 1 rule in baseball. Just because he has died doesn’t change that fact. If you let Rose in the HOF then the HOF needs to let Shoeless Joe Jackson into the HOF. Shoeless Joe has been dead lomger.
Great topic. Lots of passion. Nice diversion before the fun begins.
Asking for a friend.
Is Caffeine a Ped? If Manfred banned it?I’ll just let that hang.
Book em
The man was a pervert and a gambler. Betting while a player is plain ole WRONG. Banned permanently means FOREVER. I’m a lifelong Tigers fan. Any of them had done it ide feel the same about them. I love Cooperstown they are right.
Dodgers in 4
Phillies in 5
Yankees in 4
Tigers in 5
Dodgers in 7
Yankees in 5
Dodgers in 4
His ban was permanent, not lifetime. The league has to actually lift the ban before the BWAA will consider putting him on the ballot.
This is a subjective blog post with a misleading headline to make it sound like this is something that will automatically happen. Pure clickbait.
I’m a baseball fan. Not a person fan. People suck. I’m sure Mother Teresa had her moments. Since I am a fan, I want the greatest players bust put on a pedestal. Mark, I like your idea of the plaque. But it’s too late. It should already be on the wall, dusty.
As for the so called ped users. Seriously, ball players have been using peds since the Pleistocene era. The greatest players should be in. It matters little if we don’t like the person.
Book em
It’s beyond time. Both Rose and Shoeless Joe have paid their debts and should be enshrined in Cooperstown. Besides, MLB has no over the HOF. They just bully the HOF.
Oh, NOW they decide to let him in!
Where were you when he was still breathing?!
We all make mistakes. “Judge not least ye be judged ” He was one of baseballs greatest players. Put him in the HOF!
Yamamoto named game one starter which would make him available for a potential game 5 on his 6 day regular rest, and Flaherty also available on 5 days rest in a “ all hands on deck” scenario.
These two are going to have to be at the top of their games if the Dodgers are going to prevail.
Both the Padres and Phillies have much stronger Starting Pitching and you know what they say about good pitching…….
Where you get all these new Posters from?
PR has been good PR for you!!!!
PETE ROSE PLAYED BASEBALL THE WAY WE ALL SHOULD PLAY THE GAME OF LIFE. Charlie Hustle deserved to be in well before his sudden demise. The hurt imposed on him by his veering off the path society set at that time became excessive. Pete Rose was a true champion. ⚾️
Let Pete in !
Best baseball team out there is the one and only CI NCINNATI. REDS
MLB has no say in who get the the HOF.
This is WRONG!!! Why now!? This is EVERYTHING HE’S EVER WANTED and they denied him that right!! Now that he’s gone… do they feel guilty about their decision… Such Hypocrisy!!!
Pete Rose embodied what it meant to be not only a professional baseball player, but a professional player in any sport. He was my idol growing up and all of my friends who played baseball and made us better players for it. I am saddened like all who loved watching him play. As a lover of the game, the Hall of Fame is about the best players of the game with all the stats! Hands-down, Pete Rose is the most deserved baseball player in the history of the game. I wish he would have been inducted to partake in all his accomplishments while his was alive. “We will miss you Mr. Pete Rose!
Having been a classmate of Pete Rose at Western Hills HS, class of 1960, I have followed Pete for years and his style hasn’t changed…drive to win at almost any cost. As a halfback(#55) on our football team at WHHS, Pete was almost unstoppable. On one play, as I recall, Pete was grabbed by every member of the opponent’s defense and they could not stop him. Pete’s professional baseball stats are historic and his drive and these accomplishments must be known to young players so that they can improve their game. And the young players also need to know Pete made a big mistake and he paid mightily for it…we all make mistakes….none of us should be eligible to “cast the first stone” against another person. Pete’s on field accomplishments should be recognized by the HOF and his gambling mistakes should be a side note. If Pete has taught us anything, it is that if we try harder, we can accomplish much more than we thought we could…that has survival value.
There’s a sign in every locker room in Major league baseball, it says ” there will be no betting on baseball” Pete Rose should NEVER be invited into the Hall of Fame
I am going to bed. I have to approve each new comment, so if you post tonight, I will not moderate it until tomorrow morning. I have not censured any as yet, as you guys and gals have been respectful (for the most part).
He should be in hof other players did worse like drugs give the guy a break i saw him play and he gave it his all every game
Pete rose was wrong for betting on the game but it still does not take away his artistry and skill as a baseball player when summertime came you looked forward to baseball time and Pete rose playing I am a cardinal fan but I still loved to watch Pete rose it’s just a shame he had to die to get in the hall of fame he should have been elected before now he did a lot for the game and that is what he should be honored for
There are lots of strong opinions. Both Ways! I would purpose that his plaque says something like this:
Pete Rose aka/Charlie Hustle
He is the All-Time Hit Leader in Baseball and played the game with hustle and ferocity seldom seen. As a player he was one of the best the game has ever seen, but after he retired as a player, he violated a sacred trust and was banned from baseball due to gambling on the game. He was banned until after his death as a tribute to the high standards baseball holds it’s icons. He is only here now because we cannot erase history and he is part of the fabric of baseball.
Let this be a lesson to everyone
So you can cheat, by betting on your own team while your the Manager, and cheat by betting on you’re team as a player,
And get put in the HOF as a cheater!
Totally disgusting
Pete should have been in the hall prior to his passing.
If you look at other sports like MMA, if they can bet and get away with it, why not Pete?
Especially if it wasn’t intentionally. It’s not like Shoeless Joe betted on a game with shoes/ without shoes. For shits and giggles!
Pete deserved this prior, kind of like Adam ”
what’s his name” in the NBA allows all these players to wear spandex!
Bunch of men in tights but no nostalgia!…..
A day late and a dollar short for the HOF. Pete should have been inducted while he was alive. He paid his debt to baseball but they maintained a disdain for him regardless. His record speaks for itself. Someone needs to apologize to Pete’s family!!!
Giamatti died “a few weeks later?” You sure? I thought he died a few DAYS later, after banning Pete.
(Justifiably so, by the way.)
You will be to afraid to post it. Gutless wonder.
This is BULLSHIT
Reward the cheater. Why not just let all of the steroid users in. What a great example that you are setting for kids. How about a participation trophy too.
Now, about Roger Maris…
I know his name should be in the hall of fame. I don’t need to see that this late. The hall has excepted to many that don’t belong. Baseball is just not the same game. Who makes the $$$$ is how it’s promoted. Small market teams have no chance. No 5 tool players
The Baseball Hall of Fame could theoretically induct Pete Rose posthumously, but it would require a policy change. The Hall of Fame itself has rules that currently prevent Rose from being on the ballot due to his lifetime ban from Major League Baseball. In 1991, two years after Rose’s ban, the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors passed a rule making any player on MLB’s ineligible list also ineligible for Hall of Fame induction.
However, this rule is not set in stone and could be changed if the Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors decides to revisit it. If the Hall were to change its policy or if a future MLB Commissioner were to lift Rose’s ban, it would open the door for his potential induction posthumously.
Will it happen?
It wasn’t a lifetime ban, The word lifetime wasn’t used anywhere but in the press.
The word in the agreement is he was banned permanently.
They have already come out and said that they are not lifting the band now that he is dead which they shouldn’t he had a chance to have them lift it when he was alive all he had to do was 1 stop gambling 2 stay away from casinos 3 he had to come clean of what he did 4 stop showing up on HOF weekend and stop selling those baseballs that said I’m sorry I bet on baseball and if he could do that he would have been reinstated but he couldn’t even do that he acted like he wanted to go into the hof but deep down he didn’t want it cause it kept his name relevant and made him to much money
That is BS what they did to him there are player done worse things than him with drugs and much worse and they eligible . He should have been in the HOF along time ago with all his records he is the the face of baseball don’t care what people say he was the best player of all time he played for the love of the sport not the money and that’s the way it should be . Mr rose RIP thank you for the memories you will never be forgotten
He should NEVER be allowed in the HOF. Knowing the rules, he willing cheated. A lifetime ban means exactly that.
Otherwise, take away all the rules.
Pete should already be in the HOF and it’s a shame that we’re still debating it upon his passing. He paid his penalty and debt to the game he loved so much and now the penalty doesn’t fit the crime.
The most recent betting scandal had a brief investigation and it was gone. There was hardly any due diligence with the investigation and many stones were left unturned. If there was more to it, MLB didn’t want to risk finding it so it was closed awfully quick. A real joke!
He’s a pedophile.
Ban was permanent not lifetime.
For most of us baseball is all about hero’s and numbers and how the players you saw played the game. It didn’t matter if they played for a team not your own. The true fan would appreciate the entire body of a players work. With other questionable entry’s into the Hall I think it is a travesty that Pete wasn’t in and now with his passing we see and hear pros and cons. If you are a true fan, Pete should be in the Hall
Pete deserved to be in HOF many years ago. Banned for gambling when much worse offenses are being ignored?
I’m a Red Sox fan and know little of Pete except that he was one of the greatest players! That’s how I’ll remember him!
Love Charlie Hustle
The man should have been put in years ago
Pete Rose should be in HOF no doubt . The cheaters from the Houston astros are all eligible and that’s a shame they are eligible and Pete is not. They changed the outcome of games and even the World Series. They should all be banned even the managers and coaches.
https://yonkerstimes.com/paying-homage-to-the-real-meaning-of-baseball-mr-peter-edward-rose-sr/
You either hated him or loved him. Pete Rose was a baseball icon. He deserves to be in the HOF!!!
Pete Rose spent every once of his ability on every move he made as a player. It’d be imposable to get any more out of him. He delivered his all. There is no better example. The HOF was important to him. It’s just not so important to me as there is many things unacknowedged that would be ugly if brought into focus. The commision is even less meaningful to me. I love rock n roll but almost nothing that charted in the top 40. Pete’s gambling I have no issue with but altering history shouldn’t go unnoticed, which the HOF is also guilty of. It should be said, but say it like it is.
If the ban on Pete Rose’s HOF induction should be lifted because he has died, then what about Shoeless Joe Jackson? It seems to me there is just as good a case for Jackson as there is Rose.
Pete had an addiction, it was gambling. People seek help when they admit they have a problem. It’s moot to put him in now as it would be a slap in his and his family’s face.
I’ve been a reds fan since the late 50s i had to put my transistor radio on the light meter outside our 4 room house to get reception to hear Waite Hoyt play by play.I have heard and seen hundreds of red’s games I am 78 yrs. Old I live in East Tennessee. PETE ROSE.would never throw a REDS.game
I have never said that Pete rose should be honored but when you goto Cooperstown, you should see and understand the historical significance of the game. Right now, you don’t. Flawed and feckless, Pete Rose is the all-time hit header and is part of the fabric of baseball. It’s a travesty that he is not mentioned… even if it is in a condemning manner.
Buck Weaver was banned for life because his will couldn’t allow him to be a rat. His will also couldn’t allow him to sell out. Even when his piers sold themselves he stood by his standards and wouldn’t tell on them. He knowingly fought a losing battle because he turned down the money. In my book Buck Weaver is what heroes are made of. The Hall Of Fame means nothing.
Stevan Goldman has a really interesting slant on Pete Rose that I hadn’t considered.
https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/94239/ycliu-pete-rose-the-ghost-is-gone-his-power-ends/
Calm before the storm.
Im grilling up Dodger Dogs prior to our game on Saturday. Paired with a few Cold ones….cant beat it.
Here….we….go.
there are players in the NFL Hall of fame. who did much more hideous things than gamble! So the MLB hall must have stricter rules i guess . Let Pete Rose in as a player. BUT, tell his story. I never thought i would say this, but let them cheaters in too! BUT, tell their stories. Every disgusting detail of their cheating with asterisks! Make them ashamed to read them . No ceremonies, no interviews, nothing but a plaque and an asterisk! I am not a fan of Pete Rose the human being, but a fan of how he played the game. i know the guy broke the rules as a manager. He was never going to be a hall of fame manager! you can commit heinous crimes in one professional league and stay in the Hall? My son interviewed Pete around 6 years ago. He said it was one of the most interesting and best he’s ever done. It was all about the game! And like him or not, he was all about the game.
One of the things on the Pete Rose issue that I haven’t seen in here yet. It really starts looking hypocritical of the MLB ( no surprise there) since they have thoroughly embraced and make crap tons of money off of gambling on their sport now. And although nobody wants to hear it or talk about it with the amount of money involved I can guarantee you that someone somewhere in baseball is making some money to cheat because they’re getting paid to do it. That is factually the nature of gambling. Whether it’s an ump “missing” a call here and there, or a player “missing” a ground ball, or someone internally providing information that nobody else has about injuries etc,or whatever it is somebody somewhere is being influenced by gambling.
Bring on the Padres, got to beat them anyways to get where we want to go. Still convinced that besides walking the tightrope starting pitching wise, Mookie is the key to this series,. Ohtani is totally locked in,he’s going to get his, but as Mookie goes it trickles on down to the rest of the lineup and gets everybody going, if he’s firing all cylinders all of a sudden you have to navigate through Freddie, Will Smith who is so due to breakout, Teascore who is built for this moment , and of course the Hammer,, Muncy who can go 0-3 all night but drive that dagger 3 run shot in the late innings. Mookie can set that table; plus the good vibes he throws off when he’s going good, He is a HUGE key, get him going and we take this .
The MLB playoffs wow you got 12 teams with commensurate talent. So it comes down to karma, mojo, confidence and togetherness. If you got all 4 your going to win. That’s exactly why KC and Detroit punched their ticket to the next round. I think the Dodgers have all 4 in spades.
Book em
The agreement permanently banned the person , Pete Rose. Not his accomplishments or body of work. Put him in the hall already!
Did MLB ban Bonds, Clemens & Arod? Hmm. Didn’t think so. Come on HoF they should be in too.
Book em
Always a good day when the Asssstros get eliminated from anything.
It wasn’t a “lifetime” ban. It was a permanent ban. Per the Washington Post:
” After an investigation led by then-deputy commissioner Fay Vincent and attorney John Dowd, Rose and Commissioner Bart Giamatti signed an agreement stating that the former Cincinnati Reds star and manager was “permanently ineligible in accordance with Major League Rule 21 and placed on the Ineligible List.””
Just because he’s dead doesn’t mean that he’s not still banned.
Vin always said the Dodgers do things the hardest way possible – how is that even possible over his near 7 decades with them?! But he was with them longer than ANYONE so I think his opinion has more validity than any of ours. Just look how much they scored with 2 outs! I think they’ll win the NLDS but will make us all very nervous. Then? They’ll win more easily in the NLCS.
To me, it would be a little upsetting to put Pete in the HOF, now that he has passed. It would be a little bit of a slap in the face to Pete and the Rose family. Its unfortunate that the HOF followed the lead of MLB to keep him out. They are 2 separate entities and could have made their own decision to allow him on the ballot.
SD essentially gets a Bye into the next round.
Why doesnt MLB re-seed after the first round?? For instance if the Mets win they would be the worst seed left so the #1 seed should play them.
But whatever we are gonna beat SD regardless….