What Pete Rose did was deplorable; however, there is absolutely no link between his crimes and his record -- betting on the game doesn't help you get a hit.
Critics can hate Bonds, they can swear that he became a home-run machine through performance-enhancing drugs, but they can't erase 756 home runs.
"Yes, maybe he cheated, but he got 756 home runs!"
I was never a Reds fan or a big fan of Pete Rose until he was banned from baseball and the hall of fame. Pete Rose is baseball’s greatest player, not just because he holds the RBI record which stood since Ty Cobb set it back when the fat guy hit all those home runs, but because of how he played his position and how he played for his team. He loved baseball.
He was accused of betting on games as a MANAGER, not as a player. That doesn’t impact his numbers. That having been said, Rose shouldn’t get into the Hall.
But it does keep you out of the Hall of Fame.
The all-time hits leader: Pete Rose, who has been banned by baseball and who was convicted of tax evasion, serving a prison term in Downstate Marion. There isn’t a single asterisk next to any of his records — and Rose committed the game’s biggest sin, gambling on baseball.
What Pete Rose did was deplorable; however, there is absolutely no link between his crimes and his record — betting on the game doesn’t help you get a hit.
Yep.
But what many don’t realize is Balco was at the heart of the so called ‘betting scandal’.