Sports
Pete Rose: To Reinstate or Not Reinstate?
My Pitch
March 15, 2007 - 1:29am
Pete Rose, I’m not sure what to think about you. You’re one of the greatest baseball players ever, a baseball legend — for better or for worse. Sometimes your dedication to baseball and willingness to repent wins me over. Other times, your arrogance, foolishness and hypocritical disregard for one of the game’s most fundamental rules disappoint and upset me.
I want to forgive you. No matter what I’m thinking about though, I always come back to what you did for a few years as a manager and then how you handled it: you violated one of the most fundamental rules of sports and lied about it for years. We know this and more, because of what you said yesterday on the Dan Patrick Radio Show.
“I bet on my team to win every night, because I love my team,” Rose said. “I believe in my team. And I was wrong, but I believed in my team.”
Another fact revealed, and, unfortunately for everyone, it is as exculpatory as it is damning.
On one hand, you clearly bet on baseball. But on the other hand, you finally admitted to it and you know — I think — why it was wrong. You know that, no matter who or what you bet on within baseball, you brought an outside influence into the outcomes of games because you were a part of those very games, and that’s wrong. I know you had a gambling problem then and that you struggle with it constantly. I have sympathy for you: you don’t even understand what you were thinking when you broke the rules. You just wanted to win games … and gamble.
“It's just the way I was,” Rose said yesterday on the Dan Patrick Radio Show, when asked why he felt he had to bet on baseball. “I can't answer that question.”
Which brings me back to your latest revelation. On one hand, you bet on your own team — it doesn't get much worse than that. On the other hand, you claim to have bet on every game your team played and bet your team would win every time. While I admire your dedication, the news does come as a mixed message.
As twistedly valiant as it is, first of all, how can we believe it? How do we know you only bet for your team to win, or that you didn't bet on other things too? You've lied before, and you might still be. What will you admit in another 10 years?
I understand you had a gambling — and perhaps a greed — issue. And hearing you say things like “that's what I do. I'm a baseball person. Just because I made a mistake — and I did, I made a big mistake. It's my fault. It's not anybody else's fault, it's my fault,” makes me want to give you another chance.
But then, I hear the following statements from you that make me question your motives for reinstatement.
“But still, I believe I'm the best ambassador baseball has, because I'm constantly selling the game of baseball,” Rose said.
Best ambassador? That's a bit shortsighted.
Selling the game of baseball? Is that what you’re selling? Are those your real intentions?
“I can't honestly tell you … that if I was called into the commissioner's office in ’92 or ’93, I don't know what I might've admitted to. O.K.? But when I was given the opportunity - the first, I must tell you, the first opportunity - to talk to the commissioner of baseball, I told him everything I did,” Rose said a few minutes earlier.
I think you're trying to say you were confused, and that now, you're not. Except you also admitted to being fine with lying, and that's not good.
More importantly, I'm not really sure why you want to be reinstated. Do you want the wealth or the feeling of “power?” Or, do you want the feeling of being a part of the game, and want to be remembered for you greatness, not your one set of foolish acts? I suspect it's both, especially when you consistently choose your words the way you do. Please prove me wrong.
There's one other thing that troubles me too. Many times when you admit to or elaborate on your plight, it comes during an event promoting you or your plight - financially. I want to ignore that as coincidence or an unavoidable consequence, but I wholeheartedly cannot. This time, your admission came when you were on the radio promoting an exhibit - hosted in the Great American Ballpark, so not for your direct financial gain, at least - in your honor.
That baseball officials had to approve this exhibit makes me believe they are mulling some form of reinstatement. I want to forgive you, Pete Rose, one of the greatest players to ever grace the game. I want baseball to forgive you. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if either of us can do that just yet. I hope one day soon, we will be able to.
Josh Perlin is the Sun's Sports Editor. My Pitch will appear every other Thursday this semester.
Pete Rose, I’m not sure what to think about you. You’re one of the greatest baseball players ever, a baseball legend — for better or for worse. Sometimes your dedication to baseball and willingness to repent wins me over. Other times, your arrogance, foolishness and hypocritical disregard for one of the game’s most fundamental rules disappoint and upset me.
I want to forgive you. No matter what I’m thinking about though, I always come back to what you did for a few years as a manager and then how you handled it: you violated one of the most fundamental rules of sports and lied about it for years. We know this and more, because of what you said yesterday on the Dan Patrick Radio Show.
“I bet on my team to win every night, because I love my team,” Rose said. “I believe in my team. And I was wrong, but I believed in my team.”
Another fact revealed, and, unfortunately for everyone, it is as exculpatory as it is damning.
On one hand, you clearly bet on baseball. But on the other hand, you finally admitted to it and you know — I think — why it was wrong. You know that, no matter who or what you bet on within baseball, you brought an outside influence into the outcomes of games because you were a part of those very games, and that’s wrong. I know you had a gambling problem then and that you struggle with it constantly. I have sympathy for you: you don’t even understand what you were thinking when you broke the rules. You just wanted to win games … and gamble.
“It's just the way I was,” Rose said yesterday on the Dan Patrick Radio Show, when asked why he felt he had to bet on baseball. “I can't answer that question.”
Which brings me back to your latest revelation. On one hand, you bet on your own team — it doesn't get much worse than that. On the other hand, you claim to have bet on every game your team played and bet your team would win every time. While I admire your dedication, the news does come as a mixed message.
As twistedly valiant as it is, first of all, how can we believe it? How do we know you only bet for your team to win, or that you didn't bet on other things too? You've lied before, and you might still be. What will you admit in another 10 years?
I understand you had a gambling — and perhaps a greed — issue. And hearing you say things like “that's what I do. I'm a baseball person. Just because I made a mistake — and I did, I made a big mistake. It's my fault. It's not anybody else's fault, it's my fault,” makes me want to give you another chance.
But then, I hear the following statements from you that make me question your motives for reinstatement.
“But still, I believe I'm the best ambassador baseball has, because I'm constantly selling the game of baseball,” Rose said.
Best ambassador? That's a bit shortsighted.
Selling the game of baseball? Is that what you’re selling? Are those your real intentions?
“I can't honestly tell you … that if I was called into the commissioner's office in ’92 or ’93, I don't know what I might've admitted to. O.K.? But when I was given the opportunity - the first, I must tell you, the first opportunity - to talk to the commissioner of baseball, I told him everything I did,” Rose said a few minutes earlier.
I think you're trying to say you were confused, and that now, you're not. Except you also admitted to being fine with lying, and that's not good.
More importantly, I'm not really sure why you want to be reinstated. Do you want the wealth or the feeling of “power?” Or, do you want the feeling of being a part of the game, and want to be remembered for you greatness, not your one set of foolish acts? I suspect it's both, especially when you consistently choose your words the way you do. Please prove me wrong.
There's one other thing that troubles me too. Many times when you admit to or elaborate on your plight, it comes during an event promoting you or your plight - financially. I want to ignore that as coincidence or an unavoidable consequence, but I wholeheartedly cannot. This time, your admission came when you were on the radio promoting an exhibit - hosted in the Great American Ballpark, so not for your direct financial gain, at least - in your honor.
That baseball officials had to approve this exhibit makes me believe they are mulling some form of reinstatement. I want to forgive you, Pete Rose, one of the greatest players to ever grace the game. I want baseball to forgive you. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if either of us can do that just yet. I hope one day soon, we will be able to.
Josh Perlin is the Sun's Sports Editor. My Pitch will appear every other Thursday this semester.
Enough! Induct Pete
Now that this piece of trash has confessed, can Bud, et. al., take the bold and right move and lift Pete's ban? Baseball looks really stupid keeping the Hit King out of the Hall. History shows that it has swept at least one other betting incident under the rug (Ty Cobb/Tris Speaker), so baseball purists should quit beating their chests about the sanctity of the game. And while Bud's at it, go ahead and lift the ban against Joe Jackson of Black Sox fame.
Pete Rose
Pete Rose should be in the baseball hall of fame as a player...
there is no denying that......Don't elect him as a manager....it is as simple as that....you cannot deny his playing record and ability and his place in the Major League Hall of Fame....
pete rose
i would rather see him bet on his own team to win then take steriods
Pete Rose Re-Instated ?
I'd say do Not re-instate Pete Rose. Let's see ..first it was I didn't bet on sports ...... then it was .. oops.. well I bet on sports but not baseball ... then it was .. oops .. well I bet on baseball but not on my team ...................then it was well .... I bet on the Reds but ......... enough is enough .....Pete Rose is a habitual liar whose idea of "truth" shifts with the wind. He is certainly no one to have our youth look up to, records aside. I'd say, do Not re-instate him.
DO NOT LET THIS SORRY GUY IN
He is a jerk and always be a jerk. Don't let this sorry son in.
Pete Rose
Can we just put the guy in the HOF so we don't have to keep hearing from the jerk anymore. The first mistake is assuming the Halls of Fame should be some pious place of moral record instead of what they are and represent... achievement on the field. The baseball HOF is full of racists, cheaters, liars and scumbags... so what makes Rose any different? He was a great hitter and for that reason he should be in the HOF. Is he great person? No. Should he read a few greek tragedies dealing with hubris? yes. But he still won't get the moral of the story.
Pete Rose
Growing up watching Pete Rose aka Charlie Hustle play and emulating him on the baseball field, he definitely should be in the Hall of Fame as a player since, he would have been in the Hall as a player only anyway. He had this dogged determination to succeed as a player which I liked about him. I'm amazed that the very guys who played with him (Joe Morgan at first and Johnny Bench) did not want him in the Hall of Fame when he was one of the faces for the Big Red Machine. I thought the comraderie on those teams were great but apparently not if you have those guys against him.
Simply put, he belongs in the Hall Of Fame as a player!!!!!!!
Break the rules AGAIN for Rose?
You all need to move on.
The guy broke the rules... he's out.
Why do you all want to break the rules AGAIN?
How many strikes does this guy get?
Oh Pete Rose... for him it's "Four strikes, you're out".
How about Five? Six? Why have rules at all? Give it up.
You're out, Rose... live, eat, sleep baseball, but -no- hall.
Baseball authorities can sanction other events for the guy. Has nothing to do with the hall. He can ingratiate himself to the world. Live baseball, no hall... permanently. Rest in peace.
Wrong time for honesty, Pete
http://timeforchange.typepad.com/lilsurfergirl/2007/03/honesty_not_alw.html
Pete Rose has no place in baseball...period...Yeah Pete, you are missing out on a boat load on Hall of Fame money and endorsements..Uhhh, your fault! My advice is to get treatment for your addiction(s), because we know you are still gambling on something somewhere. Put baseball behind you, since baseball is surely viewing your recent comments from their rear view mirror.