Will Pete Rose ever choose the right path for MLB, Hall of Fame?
TO THE COACH’S BOX READERS: This is my weekly Sports Fan Coach column for the Cincinnati Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. Thanks to sports editor Jason Hoffman and the Enquirer for agreeing to share this here.
By 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 mbass@mikebasscoaching.com. And get the conversation going on Twitter @SportsFanCoach1.
I wrote that the Baseball Hall of Fame should have let Pete Rose face the same voting process 30 years ago that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens face today. Now it is your turn.
The Hall class announcement Jan. 26 could include the highest-profile players linked to steroids, while Rose remains barred after betting on baseball and his Reds. Let’s hit the emails:
“How can I help? I grew up watching Pete Rose play ball. I would like to see Pete in the hall of fame. Gambling did not make him one the greatest players of all time.”
Martin, from Stockton, California
The Hit King enthralled a lot of people, and childhood memories can be especially powerful. It makes sense you want to help. You can’t.
Only Pete Rose can help Pete Rose. And he won’t.
That is not an indictment of him. Just an acknowledgment that he has choices, and his keep him on the outside.
If I were coaching Rose, I would ask him what he really wants, what it would mean to him, the path he envisions to get it and how motivated he is to take it.
When Bart Giamatti banished him in 1989, the commissioner was open to Rose returning, but said, “The burden to show a redirected, reconfigured, rehabilitated life is entirely Pete Rose’s.”
What would you do? What would I do? I have thought a lot about this over the years.
First, I would tell the whole truth about betting on the Reds and baseball. ASAP. He didn’t. Rose spent years denying all of it. In his 2004 book, he finally admitted publicly to betting on baseball and his team— and said he told Commissioner Bud Selig in 2002 that he had bet “four or five times a week” as Reds manager. In 2007, Rose told ESPN Radio, “I bet on my team every night. I didn't bet on my team four nights a week. I was wrong.” In 2015, ESPN produced documents indicating Rose had bet as player-manager, too, backing MLB investigator John Dowd’s report to Giamatti.
This doesn’t help Rose’s cause. No matter.
This is about what Rose wants. He wanted to return to baseball, his way. His compromises. His boundaries. His choices.
“Don't you think it is hypocritical of MLB to keep Pete Rose out of the hall of fame while they endorse and profit from legalized gambling? Are there any check and balances MLB players are not participating?”
Tom, from Westland, Michigan
Great questions. If I were Rose, the second thing I would have done was lead the fight against gambling in baseball and all sports. ASAP. Take every gig addressing groups, schools, Congress, talks shows, you name it. Offer to strategize ways to prevent and uncover gambling and to provide those “checks and balances” now that Tom mentioned. Help others avoid his mistakes. And make every effort to quit gambling, one day at a time.
Shortly after his ban, Rose did meet with James Randolph Hillard, University of Cincinnati psychiatry department chair. In a 1989 statement, Hilliard said the two of them concluded Rose suffers from “a clinically significant gambling disorder,” and Rose “can never gamble on anything again.” Rose himself said, “Now I have to eliminate it completely.”
He did not. No crime there. Over the years, Rose often has said he only bets legally now. No crime there, either. To him, that is enough.
Again, this doesn’t help his cause. No matter.
This is about what Rose wants. He wanted to return to baseball, his way. His compromises. His boundaries. His choices.
He filed his latest reinstatement petition last February, to Commissioner Rob Manfred. Rose argued that his continued ban is unfair compared to MLB’s handling of the sign-stealing Houston Astros and of performance-enhancing drug users. No luck.
The difference is, Rose bet on baseball. Agree or disagree about the relative harm, he committed the game’s cardinal sin. Rule 21 was posted in every clubhouse. You bet on a game involving your team, you’re banned. Not only did he do it, not only did he deny it, he took baseball to court over it.
He admitted he made mistakes. He lost the game he loves. To him, he has done enough to warrant reinstatement. Appreciate that this is his view. He sees no harm in doing regular autograph sessions in Cooperstown during Hall of Fame week, so why should anyone else? He sees through his own eyes. If he wants to return to baseball, his best chance is to envision the reconfigured life MLB requires.
And so, baseball writers now must judge Bonds, Clemens and the rest of the players linked to PEDs on their own merits, not against Rose.
“I agree with your column on Rose’s HOF eligibility. He would have been the first 100% … IF ONLY:
“He had fessed up (when first questioned about gambling) to then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth.
“No Giamatti and Dowd. Shoeless Joe Jackson might be in also. His (Rose’s) punishment might have been a quiet suspension for 1 year a la (the NFL’s) Paul Hornung and Alex Karras in 1963.
“He now says he only bet as a manager and only on the Reds. The Dowd betting slips show his betting while a player/manager. He only bet on the Reds, but when he did NOT, that (could have) signaled others to bet on their opponent.
“I wish he were in the HOF, but he will die without that honor. Think of the millions he lost.”
Dave, from Cincinnati
Well said. In 2019, Rose estimated that getting kicked out of baseball cost him $100 million.
Dave’s point about “Shoeless Joe” Jackson is an interesting one. Like Rose, Jackson’s statistics scream Hall of Fame. Babe Ruth patterned his swing after Jackson’s. There are differing views over Jackson’s participation in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, but he was one of eight players banned for life. Efforts to get Jackson into the Hall of Fame were bludgeoned in 1991, collateral damage from the Hall’s decision to ban anyone on the banned list.
"Thank you for your article. I grew up during the days of the Big Red Machine and wore #8 because of Joe Morgan, even though I grew up in the Seattle area.
"I can't follow the logic of the MLB. How can you allow known steroid users into the hall, but not Pete Rose or Joe Jackson? Jackson never admitted to betting on baseball, and many indicate he wasn't involved. He was only associated with those that did. Why does he continue to be banned?
"Rose, Bonds and Clemens all cheated! Plain and simple! They should be treated in the same manner. I'll take it one step further, A.J. Hinch! He knowingly allowed his team to cheat and they won a World Series because of it. Yes! He got fired from his job, but he wasn't banned. In fact he is now the manager of the Detroit Tigers. In addition, Alex Cora is being considered for manager jobs now. (The Boston Red Sox rehired him, after this email was submitted.) Neither one was banned for life, but are guilty of cheating. The players who were actually banging on the trash cans are still allowed to play without any penalty. These were active players having a direct impact on the result of the game. Yet nothing!
"A game that rewards consistency on the field —batting average, etc. — is not being consistent in how they are treating some of the best players who ever played the game! Jackson, Rose, Bonds and Clemens all belong in the Hall of Fame or start banning (Robinson) Cano, (Francis) Martes and others for life."
Rick, from Puyallup, Washington
Rick is one of many seeing a disconnect in all of this. Let’s look at some of the others:
The Astros’ Hinch and Boston’s Cora (Houston’s former bench coach) each was suspended a year and fired over the sign-stealing scandal. Manfred gave Astros players immunity to tell him what had happened. Cano and Martes were suspended for the 2021 season for PED use. None bet on baseball or in a game involving his team, which seems to be the dividing line for MLB. I touched on Jackson in the last response.
Now let’s look at Clemens and Bonds:
Whether you believe him or not, Clemens insists he never took steroids. Whether you believe him or not, Bonds insists he never knowingly took them. Neither player tested positive for PEDs or was punished by MLB. The Hall of Fame is helpless to do anything to them, the way it did to Rose. And so, comparisons between Rose and Bonds-Clemens are inevitable.
The Hall inadvertently created this mess with its clumsy decision in 1991 to exclude anyone on the permanently ineligible list. Although the Hall insisted it was not targeting Rose, nobody believed it. Rose would have been on the writers’ voting ballots for the first time later that year.
One more thing about Jackson. There was some confusion about whether the ban ended when the player died, leaving some hope for Shoeless Joe’s case. The Hall clarified last January that the ban continues even after death.
Remember to email Bass at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter if you want to be included next week. His website is MikeBassCoaching.com.