MLB gives Charlie Hustle one-day furlough

ESPN ^ | August 20, 2010 | Rob Neyer

[ConservativeStatement]

Hey, better late than never. John Fay: The Reds have secured permission to honor Pete Rose on the 25th anniversary of him breaking Ty Cobb's all-time hit record.

In an ironic twist, Rose's first official appearance on the field in Cincinnati since his ban from baseball for gambling in 1989 isn't likely to come on the actual anniversary of his greatest achievement as a player. Rose has commitments to Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Ind., on Sept. 11, which is 25 years to the day he passed Ty Cobb with hit No. 4,192.

The Reds likely will move the celebration to Sept. 12. The club is home from Sept. 10-15. Rose also has commitments to Hollywood Casino on Sept. 10.

[101voodoo]

You don’t know the game very well. It was a clean shot and entirely appropriate. When a catcher blocks the plate he’s asking for it and in this case he got it.

[101voodoo]

You obviously don’t know the attitude Rose brought to the game. Winning was the only thing which mattered in any game of which he was a part.

Rose could no more throw a game than the Pope could mug a Nun.

[RGSpincich]

Thanks for laying that out. I went soft there for a minute.

[henkster]

I support Pete for the Hall of Fame...posthumously. Let him in after he has passed. No acceptance speech, but his on the field accomplishments are honored.

[BenLurkin]

Hello -- it was an All-Star Game. Not the World Series.

[proudofthesouth]

I lived in Cincinnati during the late ‘70’s and early 80’s and knew people who had formerly worked for the Reds. They offered several times to introduce me to Pete but I turned them down every time because by that time I'd heard about what an a$$ he was. A terrific ball player but a loser as a human being.

However, I was a Reds fan before I moved to Cincy and remain so today.

I say put Pete in the HOF.

[NativeNewYorker]

Baseball lowered its own standards post-Rose. They were right to ban him then, but now it reeks of hypocrisy. Let him in the front door.

[BallyBill]

He is always OK in my book, but hey, I'm a Phillies Phan and I saw first hand what having him around can do.

[okie01]

Let [Pete] in after he has passed. No acceptance speech, but his on the field accomplishments are honored.

They didn't let Shoeless Joe in after he passed. And, while his career didn't last as long as Pete's, his stats were pretty remarkable themselves.

Good trivia question:

I own the second highest career batting average in the major leagues. Yet, I never won a batting title and I'm not in the Hall of Fame. Who am I?

[discostu]

Gambling strikes at the heart of a sport though. The promise that sports makes the viewers is that the people on the field are pursuing victory for the sake of victory and have no reason to want anything other than victory. Once you open the door to gambling, especially illegal gambling, that promise is broken, now you have the possibility of points shaving, thrown games, and other perversions of the game. All the leagues except the NBA (who have terrible officiating and recently found out most of their officials violate the leagues rather loose gambling rules) have learned the lesson of the Black Sox, keep far away from gambling or risk destruction.

And Pete made his situation even worse with the constant lies. First he didn’t gamble, then he gambled but it never distracted from the game, then he gambled DURING games but never on baseball, then he gambled on baseball but never on games he was involved in, now the current story is he gambled on games he was involved in but always to win. Does anybody actually believe him anymore?

[Patsygirl]

Pete Rose—Don’t get me started! Pete went out there to WIN from the time he was a little kid playing baseball down at Boldface Park. My late husband was a few years ahead of Pete in H.S. and he used to talk about how hard Pete played. He was so small, yet fearless and he was all about WINNING! When you look at what Baseball has become—Drugs, Steroids and so on, betting on his Own Team seems rather small by comparison. As far as I’m concerned, The Baseball Hall of Fame in itself is a JOKE unless and until they put Pete Rose in there! I loved your last line re “Pete could no more throw a game than the Pope could mug a Nun!” Perfect analogy!

[CAluvdubya]

I just don’t see that he is any worse than the steroid junkies. Throw them all out and no Hall of Fame for any of them, then.

[discostu]

First off I don’t think anybody that we know did steroids before the vote came up has been voted in. McGwire was the first eligible after things blew up and he’s still out and the voting looks like he’s going to stay out for a long time (he’s not even pulling 25%, and I think you either need 2/3 or 3/4s to get in). I think a couple of guys are in that we found out about later, but nobody that we’ve found out about before they became eligible has been voted in.

Secondly it’s good to keep in mind that for most of the steroid era they weren’t actually against the rules (the MLBPA stood very strong against it during CBA negotiations), and even when they finally became against the rules there was a couple of years there when there was no testing (good old PA again).

And finally, yes gambling is worse that roids. At least the guys on roids are trying to win, and trying all out. With gamblers we just don’t know. Again look at the litany of lies Rose has put out for the last 20 years.

[P-Marlowe]

Ummmm....he's a scumbag who not only bet on baseball, but used corked bats.

From your artice:

"MythBusters looked into it and found that the ball comes off a corked bat markedly slower, and concluded that the cheaters have only been cheating themselves."

[csmusaret]

Pete Rose is not talked about as a Hall of Famer for his accomplishments as a manager. I don’t think his misdeeds as a manager should count more than his deeds as a player when it comes to the Hall of Fame.

[romanesq]

Taking out a catcher in an exhibition like the All Star game was low class.
Maybe he did have a bet on that game too.

Baseball has handled it right. You can’t have gambling associated with the game by its participants.

[BenLurkin]

FRiend, Pete Rose was the one who was “out of line”. At least — that’s what MLB thinks.

[henkster]

According to my Baseball Encyclopedia, Joe Jackson (.356) is actually 3rd in lifetime batting average, behind Ty Cobb (.367) and Rogers Hornsby (.358).

I don’t know how strong the case against Joe Jackson was. Jackson’s innocence is one of those things people like to cling to, like the belief on the left that the Rosenbergs were innocent. At least with the Rosenbergs we have Stalin’s note to Beria expressing gratitude for the Rosenbergs’ information. I doubt we will ever have the same for Jackson.