What if Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens went through same Hall of Fame process?

Mike Bass @SportsFanCoach1

Editor’s note: This is a weekly column from former sports reporter and editor Mike Bass. Bass will be contributing to The Enquirer by offering advice for sports fans, athletes and youth sports parents and coaches through a weekly Q&A. To ask a question of Bass for potential publication, email him at mikebass3838@gmail.com. And get the conversation going on Twitter @SportsFanCoach1.

Let’s go straight to the email:

Why does MLB allow cheaters to be placed on the Hall of Fame ballot when all their justifying stats were achieved illegally? If you consider all the game outcomes they tainted the Commissioner should bar them from consideration. Pete Rose's gambling tainted only a fraction of the games that can be attributed to Clemens and Bonds. Where's the justice?

Mike, from Villa Hills

Mike and I began exchanging emails shortly after the new ballot was released.

Mike’s view: It is unfair for MLB to exclude Rose from a Hall that is open for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Rose admitted gambling. Bonds and Clemens never admitted knowingly using steroids. Rose wins on character and statistics.

“And ALL of his stats were fairly earned; he actually put forth 110% effort every day to the delight of true baseball fans — even many who lived in competing cities,” Mike wrote.

Mike’s conclusion: It’s about money.

“The two cheating players on the ballot played in very large advertising DOLLARS markets, San Francisco and Boston,” Mike wrote.  “And MLB wants to be popular in those markets.”

Mike’s concern: The Hall is sending a disturbing message to fans of all ages, and to players: Cheating is OK, we won’t penalize you if you get caught and we’ll even let you into Cooperstown.

“My objective is to spotlight cheaters and stop the spread of this ‘acceptance virus’ that has infected our national pastime,” he wrote. “America and its baseball fan public deserve better.”

Mike is not alone seeing the inconsistency of Rose versus Bonds-Clemens. He clearly values baseball’s integrity, so if he believes a wrong message is being sent, it makes sense this would trouble him.

How might it serve Mike to look at this in a slightly different way? To hear how the Hall unwittingly created this mess?

In early 1991, the Hall deemed anyone on baseball’s permanently ineligible list to be ineligible for the Hall, too. It denied this was the Pete Rose Rule, but guess who would have become Hall-eligible later that year.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America objected. Why not trust the writers to vote, as usual? Instead, the Hall clumsily avoided the potential awkwardness of Rose being elected … and inadvertently produced more awkwardness now.

The Hall has no grounds to exclude Bonds, Clemens or any other player linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Where would it draw the line? Someone who reportedly tested positive when MLB results were supposed to be anonymous, when there were no penalties, when some of the names reported are inaccurate, when the player denies ever using? Should Sammy Sosa be excluded? Should David Ortiz?

Would it exclude players punished by MLB? Bonds and Clemens still would be safe.

I agree with Mike that MLB’s money grab is at play here, just not market size. MLB ignored the steroid issue for too long, enjoying the attention (and revenue) from artificially aided home runs.

I and other BBWAA members are trying to sort out how to handle Steroid Era players. Good. It is the writers’ role, and it should have been with Rose. Over time, some of us have softened on nixing anyone even linked to PEDs; again, where is the cutoff? Today, I look at the entire picture.

How would the BBWAA have viewed Rose? He has first-ballot stats, but he committed the cardinal sin, betting on the game, then denied it, dragging MLB to court before accepting a penalty, then took years to admit the truth. If the BBWAA said no, would some Veterans Committee incarnation have said yes?

At least Rose, Clemens and Bonds would have faced the same process.

Remember to email Bass at mikebass3838@gmail.com or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter if you want to be included next week. His website is MikeBassCoaching.com.