The Baseball Hall of Fame is one of the most revered and traditional shrines in professional sports. All players someday hope to get the call to Cooperstown and this year there were a number of deserving options.
On Wednesday, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced that it was electing no one to Cooperstown for just the sixth time since voting began in 1936. Voting was likely muddled due to the presence of steroid-connected players Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens, but the writers who vote for the Hall might have lost themselves a little credibility in the process.
Yes, steroids are a controversial subject in baseball, but you know what? It happened. It actually happened. And while it was happening, Major League Baseball did nothing about it until the use was rampant throughout the league. Steroids are likely the reason why Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell, two players who were NEVER directly connected to steroids, did not get into the Hall of Fame this year. Now, even just the fact that someone played baseball during the 90s steroid era seems to be enough of a connection to keep someone out.
For anyone keeping score at home, after electing no one this year, the Baseball Writers Association of America have decided that:
-The career and single-season home run champion does not belong in the Hall of Fame (Barry Bonds).
-A pitcher with over 340 wins, 4,000 strikeouts and SEVEN Cy Young Awards does not belong in the Hall of Fame (Roger Clemens).
-Someone who is the career leader in home runs by a catcher and made 12 All-Star teams does not belong in the Hall of Fame (Mike Piazza).
-A player with over 3,000 hits and a long and consistent career with one team does not belong in the Hall of Fame (Craig Biggio).
Voters sometimes do not like electing players on their first ballot unless they are an "all-time great", so some of the results can be chalked up to that. But isn't that in itself wrong? Why is a player more of a Hall of Famer years down the road then when he is first eligible? For example, last year voters finally decided to put Ron Santo in the Hall of Fame, something that he had hoped for all his life. Sadly, it took so long that Santo passed away before he could witness it.
That brings it to the main point: Mr. Pete Rose.
Let's just look at the stats real quick so we know what we are dealing with. Imagine this description of a player by just pure information and keep the name out of it for a second.
This professional baseball player amassed 4,256 career hits in 3,562 career games played; was a two-time Gold Glove award winner; 17-time All-Star; National League MVP; World Series MVP and three-time champion; won three batting titles; and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Pretty good resume, no? Unfortunately, this resume belongs to Pete Rose, a man who admittedly bet on baseball (after years of denying it) and someone that was banned from the sport permanently after that news came to light.
Rose was accused of betting on baseball as a player and as a manager for the Reds, later admitting it, although he said he did not ever bet against his own team. In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame formally voted to ban those on the "permanently ineligible" list from induction, meaning that it was official he could not get in until he at least made it off that list. It has never come close to happening.
In either case, the Baseball Writers Association of America and the Hall of Fame are hypocrites and should elect Rose to the Hall of Fame as a player.
Rose is not the classiest guy in the world; he has made some outrageous statements and has appeared on television and talk shows usually with the agenda of selling something, but there is no doubt that he is one of the greatest hitters of all time, which is why he belongs in the Hall of Fame as a player.
Yes, he admitted he gambled on baseball, but that in no way affected his play on the field. It's hard to prove that explicitly, of course, but the man was known as "Charlie Hustle" for that exact reason, he always played hard.
For example, Rose played so intensely that during an All-Star game in 1970, he barreled into Cleveland Indians catcher Ray Fosse at home plate to score the winning run, separating his shoulder and basically ending his career as a productive player. Sure, the move was bush league, but no one could ever go after Rose for not playing hard.
It is a very complex issue with no easy answers. There is a rule posted in every clubhouse in Major League Baseball that explicitly states the rules about gambling. Rose did not follow this. There is the so-called "character clause" or "morality clause" that many voters invoke when talking about Rose. This is one of the most ludicrous reasons for keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.
As written in a New York Times article by Bill Pennington, "The Baseball Hall of Fame has a membership that includes multiple virulent racists, drunks, cheats, brawlers, drug users and at least one acknowledged sex addict."
Where was the morality clause on those guys? On top of that, there are known cheaters in the Hall of Fame as well. Gaylord Perry was known to scuff balls during his career and while yes, that is not as bad as using steroids or gambling, isn't that cheating as much as anything else? Other examples include Ty Cobb, who was a known racist and has been involved in stories that seem just unbelievable, as well as Tris Speaker, who was once implicated in a game-fixing scheme.
So let's see, Speaker is actually implicated, but that isn't as bad as betting on baseball without trying to fix games? It's understandable that the integrity of Rose is questioned, but there is no doubt that he was one of the most talented hitters of his time and many baseball writers would not dispute that.
Rose spoke about the Hall of Fame following the release of the voting results and said to USA Today that he would not give up on trying to get into the shrine.
"It doesn't matter how long it takes," Rose said Thursday over lunch in Sherman Oaks. "I'm in no hurry, unless you know something I don't know. You just have to try to be a productive citizen and live your life, and hopefully someday somebody calls you and says, 'Hey, we want to give you a second chance.' I won't need a third, and believe me, nobody is going to find me betting on baseball. What's that old cliché? I don't bet on baseball because I know too much about it."
He spoke about the steroid users and separated them from some of the other players already in the Hall.
"I don't know who did what, and I really don't care," Rose said. "All I can tell you is if there's drugs involved, the most sacred thing in baseball is the stats. We've been taking stats since 1869 ... and whenever you do something that can alter the statistics of the game, it's not good for the game."
This year the closest anyone came to getting in the Hall was Craig Biggio and Jack Morris, who earned 68 and 66 percent of the vote respectively.
According to the Associated Press, "Since 1965, the only years the writers didn't elect a candidate were when Yogi Berra topped the 1971 vote by appearing on 67 percent of the ballots cast and when Phil Niekro headed the 1996 ballot at 68 percent. Both eventually made it to Cooperstown."
There are a lot of obstacles and objections for Rose getting into the Hall of Fame, but it's hard for anyone to say that his gambling somehow affected any of his 4,256 hits. That is a number that deserves to be honored.