The BBWAA Hall of Fame vote was made public earlier this week, and whenever the Hall of Fame is spoken up, Peter Edward Rose, aka the Hit King, is always referenced.
In particular, that Pete Rose ought to be honored in the Hall of Fame. I concur with the sentiment. Rose is a Hall of Fame player, and one day a plaque honoring his achievements will undoubtedly be installed.
But when legions of ardent Rose supporters go too far, the outcome is a lot of pointless bickering.
Comments such as “He’s the best hitter ever!” will be heard. as well “Just shut the Hall of Fame down since it doesn’t have Pete Rose.”
True, he leads all batters in hits, but he’s not the greatest batter of all time. I can immediately think of five players who were much more proficient hitters than Rose: Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Stan Musial. I could go for another twenty or so.
Given that Cooperstown’s Hall of Fame is home to hundreds of deserving players, the second stated assertion is equally ridiculous. The absence of Rose doesn’t take away from the admiration for plaques honoring legendary players like the five batters described earlier who didn’t rig the game.
In all honesty, though, such remarks are more like passionate pleas from Rose’s admirers than anything else. Because of this, they are generally safe.
The selective morality that supports Rose while yelling about the PED period and labeling everybody suspected of using the drug—even if no evidence has been shown against them—as a bunch of immoral cheaters is where I start to seriously worry. Once more, in the same sentence as defending Rose. It’s completely insane.
Due to his baseball ban for betting on Reds games while managing the team, Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame. He knew that doing so would result in a lifetime ban, but he nonetheless did it even though it was clearly against the law at the time. He continued to do it.
