Time To Vote Pete Rose Into the Hall

Finally, Major League Baseball did the right thing by lifting the lifetime ban against Pete Rose. It only took over 35 years.

 

In so doing, it also lifted the ban against “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and others from the 1919 “Black Sox Scandal”, the team which gambled on the 1919 World Series. The movies Eight Men Out discussed this and Field of Dreams mentioned it.

Considering that MLB Stadiums are adorned with ads from so many online gambling sites, the hypocrisy was mind-blowing.

As a lifelong Mets fan, I hated, yet admired, Pete Rose because he was a great player AND a Met killer. It started in 1963 when he beat out Ron Hunt, the Mets Second Baseman for the Rookie of the Year award.

But in 2015, as a baseball fan, I wrote a commentary which called for the ban to be lifted, titled Pete Rose and Being In the Hall. And republished it many times over the next decade.

Only after Rose died, did Commissioner Rob Manfred find the "courage" to lift the ban.

“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred wrote in a letter to attorney Jeffrey M Lenkov, who petitioned for Rose’s removal from the list January 8. “Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.

“Therefore, I have concluded that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual, and Mr Rose will be removed from the permanently ineligible list.”

That took so much guts to do, I’m sure. He must have wrestled with that for minutes. It was only after President Trump declared he would pardon Pete Rose, was Manfred shamed into this decision.

However, in his note, Manfred was clear that his decision didn’t have any bearing on how Hall of Fame voters should vote.

“I want to emphasize that it is not part of my authority or responsibility to express any view concerning Mr Rose’s consideration by or possible election to the Hall of Fame,” Manfred wrote.

Still showed no gumption to take a real stand. Like Pontius Pilate.

It is time for the BBWAA or whoever does the voting for veteran players, to right the wrong and accelerate via a special vote, the long-deserved admission of Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame. This year. It is long overdue.

Besides, you have a precedent when Roberto Clemente was voted in after he died when the five-year waiting period was suspended and he was immediately voted in that summer. So it CAN be done.

Show that you have the resolve and the courage to do what is right, unlike Manfred and all the other Commissioners since Pete was banned in 1989. It was left up to you; it is your opportunity to right this injustice.

Vote him in now to make peace with his family and his legacy as a player.