I selected this topic for my graduation project because I feel that the banning of Pete

Rose is a huge social issue in the baseball world to this day. There are a majority of

people who believe that Pete should be forgiven and let into the Hall of Fame, but there

are many who feel he should never again be a part of baseball. This topic still reigns as

one of the biggest national issues concerning the morals of baseball. Should baseball

forgive Pete for his alleged wrong-doings? Should they keep him away from baseball so

they look like heroes trying to keep the corrupt things out? The real question is, should

Peter Edward Rose be allowed in the Hall of Fame? That is for the fan to decide.

One of Pete Rose's greatest feats was the night he broke Ty Cobb's 57 year old

record of 4191 career hits. Here is how Marty Brenneman and Joe Nuxhall called the

game that infamous night:

Brenneman: One out...and here comes the main attraction...And they're on

their feet...Rose walking towards the plate...That number on his back

emblazoned on the minds of sports fans probably forever and ever...The

most famous number 14 in the history of this game...And trying to make

history right now in the first inning tonight....He levels the bat a couple of

times, Show (the pitcher) kicks and he fires...Rose swings...

Nuxhall: There it is! There it is! Get out! Get out!...All right! All right!

Brenneman: Line drive, left center field, and there it is! Hit number

forty-one-ninety-two...A line drive single into left center field...A clean

base hit, and it is pandemonium here at Riverfront Stadium...The

fireworks exploding overhead...Rose is completely encircled at first

base...And a kind of outpouring of adulation that I don't think you'll ever

see an athlete get any more of...Little Pete fighting his way through the

crowd, and Pete being hoisted on the shoulders of a couple of his

teammates...

Nuxhall: Quite a base hit...Ha ha...Yes it is, yessir... (Cosgrove 183).

Four years after that hit, Peter Edward Rose was banned for life from baseball

because of allegedly betting on baseball games. Ty Cobb's open admission to murdering

a man did not stop him from entering the Hall of Fame, so why should something that

was never proven stop Pete Rose from being in it? Many players today are getting three,

four and even five chances to make amends with baseball. None of them are banned

today. No even ill-tempered, anger-driven, alcoholic Albert Belle of the Chicago White

Sox. Today is the day of rehabilitation and forgiveness. Why won't baseball forgive Pete

Rose?

Pete Rose's numbers and achievements are astounding as compared to any player

who ever played the game of baseball. Pete, also known as Charlie Hustle, a nickname

given to him in spring training by the great Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford, won Rookie of

the Year honors in 1963. From then, he played an amazing 24 years, a superhuman feat

for baseball. In that span, he has a .303 lifetime average with three batting titles in 1968,

1969, and 1973. In the record books, he is first in games played with 3,562, first in

at-bats with 14,053 and first in hits, topping the late Ty Cobb by 65 hits with 4,256. He

is second in doubles behind only the great Tris Speaker, fourth in runs with 2,165, and

tenth in base-on-balls with 1,566. There have been tens of thousands of players ever to

grace the game of baseball with their presence. For Pete to hold such high places in these

records is a sensational feat, almost as if Pete were a superhero tearing through the

barriers of doubt, hardship and pain. Pete is the only person in Major League history to

play 500 games at five different positions; 939 at first base, 628 at second base, 634 at

third base, 671 in right field, and 595 in left field. All of these record certainly makes

him one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history.

Pete was also known for his attitude toward the game. Instead of trotting down to

first base after a walk, he ran full speed as if running out a close grounder. He would

slide head first into bases and bowl over opponents if they were in his way. His attitude

got him respect from his fellow Major Leaguers.

Pete was also known as an aggressive better. During the 1987 season, he

allegedly bet from $9,500 to $19,000 a day through his mutual friend, Paul Janszen who

served six months in jail for tax evasion involving the sale of steroids. Janszen said that

he once heard Pete talking out loud about selling cocaine to get money to keep gambling

(Leerhsen 75). Pete once told of how a bookie threatened to burn his house down and

break his children's legs if he didn't pay him (Leerhsen 74). Pete was said to have sold

off his memorabilia to pay off his gambling debts. His solution was always to win his

way out of debt. At one time, he allegedly owed from $600,000 to $900,000 to bookies

in 1989. Pete's aggressive betting led the Commissioner of Baseball, A. Bartlett Giamatti

to investigate if he really did bet on baseball games.

Through the investigation of Pete Rose's betting on baseball, he was defiant about

doing so. He denied betting on anything other than horse races. Rose once said, "I'd be

willing to bet you, if I was a betting man, that I have never bet on baseball." (Dolphin

and Hoard 52). He was known to hang around gamblers and known drug dealers. In

1989, a man named John Dowd prepared a 225 page report against Rose. In that report,

nine people came forward and told of Pete's betting on baseball. Rose was implicated on

betting on games that he managed or played in, pointing to the fact that he might have

thrown a game to obtain money. Rose's lawyers and Major League Baseball fought back

and forth for months on what punishment Rose should get. Both sides broke off talks in

July but got back together again on August 16. After that meeting Rose signed a

settlement that would ban him from baseball only if Giamatti promised to keep an open

mind about reinstating him in one year. That settlement said that Rose would have to

drop his lawsuit on baseball that said that he was given an unfair investigator and a

prejudiced commissioner (Closing 23). The settlements said the Rose could apply for

reinstatement in one year, which was a Major League rule for banned players. The

agreement did not say anywhere that Pete bet on baseball, but it didn't say that he didn't.

Rose said that he agreed to the banning to avoid further damage to baseball, thus, cutting

through his rough outside to show his soft love for the game. Even though, Rose's

lawyers kept fighting to say that Pete was banned for other reasons than betting on

baseball, rather his questionable associations and illegal wagers he admitted making on

football and basketball games (Lieber and Neff 30). The settlement said that Rose

violated Major League Rule 12 which states: "Anyone found to have bet on games

involving his team is declared permanently ineligible," and, "Anyone found to have

engaged in unspecified conduct not in the best interests of baseball can also be ruled

permanently ineligible" (Lieber and Neff 30). The agreement Rose signed never said

which part of the rule he violated. Rose still lives with his banishment from baseball,

hoping that some day it will finally and deservedly be lifted.

There are numerous baseball players that come to mind when thinking about

players who have committed crimes and done things against the law. One of them is Ty

Cobb. Ty Cobb's records are also very astounding as compared to Pete Rose. His 36

steals of home still stands in the record books. He is first in batting average with and

average of .367, first in batting titles with 12, first in runs with 2245 and second in hits

with 4191 only behind Pete Rose. His records are wonderful, but he still holds fewer

than Charlie Hustle.

Cobb's attitude also got him far in baseball, only not the way Pete's did. Players

came to fear Cobb. He sharpened his spikes before games so to let opponents know that

if they wanted to tag him out, they'd almost certainly take a trip to the emergency room.

He wasn't liked by many for his over-aggressiveness which he says was caused by

teammates taunting him as a rookie. As plainly stated, Pete Rose's and Ty Cobb's attitude

toward baseball were completely opposite.

While in his playing career, Ty Cobb admitted to killing a man. Cobb was

walking down the street when a man supposedly jumped him with a knife. Cobb, who

pulled out a gun, couldn't make it fire, so the man slit him up the back with his knife.

The man then fled into a dead-end alley where Cobb beat him to death with the gun

(Stump 10,11). "I used that gun sight to rip and slash and tear him for about ten minutes

until he had no face left. Left him there, not breathing, in his own blood," Cobb once

said (Stump 11).

Cobb was also accused of fixing a Detroit-Cleveland game back on September

25, 1919. Cobb, Tris Speaker, Hubert "Dutch" Leonard and Joe Wood wagered $5,500

on the game because they knew the outcome. The man who gave the money to a bookie

implicated the four. Later, Leonard came out about the fixing as payback for Cobb

cutting him from Detroit and for Speaker not claiming him off waivers. Cobb and

Speaker were suspended which was eventually lifted with their acquittal (Stump

370-372). As a person can plainly see, Tyrus Raymond Cobb was much worse than Pete

Rose but ironically was the very first man to enter the Hall of Fame.

Another player that has been given chance after chance is the Chicago White

Sox's Albert Belle. Albert Belle is known for his huge frame and loud bat, but he is also

known for his outrageous temper. Once, Belle refused outright to shake hands with the

man that once suspended him, AL President, Bobby Brown. He once chased

trick-or-treaters off of his lawn with his car, then threatened to kill them if they came

back. He fired a baseball at the chest of a fan, and when Sports Illustrated tried to talk to

him, he said, "SI can kiss my black ass" (Bamberger 74). Belle was fined $50,000 for

holding a five minute yelling bout with Hannah Storm. He was suspended 7 games for

using a corked bat, but after that, he hit 10 homers in the last 20 games of the season

which proves that he thrives on his anger (Bamberger 76). On April 6, 1996, he threw

two baseballs at SI photographer Tony Tomsic for trying to photograph him after warning

him not to. Tomsic cut his hand when he raised it to protect his face from the oncoming

ball. One time, he dislodged a porcelain sink from the clubhouse wall and smashed it to

pieces with a bat (Bamberger 79). He almost got in a physical fight with a columnist

before Indian's catcher Sandy Alomar broke it up (Bamberger 80). Belle's anger has

given him a bad reputation throughout his baseball career.

Belle also had a problem with alcohol some time ago. In 1990, he spent two

months in a Cleveland Clinic for alcoholism and his temper. According to one, Belle

became a closet drinker and showed up hung over for work (Bamberger 79). The

Cleveland Indians covered up by saying that his temper was caused by his alcoholism,

thus giving a socially acceptable reason for it. Through all of this, Albert Belle still plays

baseball and has never been banned from the sport. Pete Rose's gambling is worse than

Belle's uncontrollable temper which could lash out on anyone at any minute? I think not.

The world knows Pete Rose's faults: problem gambler, unreliable husband, and

father and tax cheat. None of that diminished what he accomplished on the field. Rose

accepted cash for baseball card shows and failed to report it to the IRS. This act landed

him in prison. That same crime was committed by Hall of Famer's Willie McCovey and

Duke Snider. Did Major League baseball think twice about putting them on the ballot for

the Hall? No. Rose was a frequent visitor to horse and dog tracks, but so was the great

Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby. "Cap Anson was perhaps the biggest racist in baseball

history. It was his refusal to play against a black pitcher, George Stovey, in the 1880s

that allowed the owners of the time to bar blacks from the game for nearly 70 years"

(Gary). Did baseball look at these men's private life when they elected them to the Hall?

No, they didn't. It was the gutsy move of one commissioner who tried to play God to

make himself look good. One commissioner who felt Pete's trivial accusations

outweighed his records ten to one. Unfortunately, the numbers are the other way around.

For my interview, I talked to Larry Bowa, a former Philadelphia Phillies star who

played with Pete during their championship season of 1980. The switch-hitting shortstop

has the highest fielding average of any NL shortstop in one year at .991 in 1979. A

two-time All Star and two-time gold glove award winner, he was one fantastic player and

a great asset to the game of baseball. He was the Phillies third-base coach until this year,

where he is the third base coach for the Anaheim Angels who are lucky to have such a

great guy on their team. I asked Mr. Bowa if he liked playing baseball with Pete Rose

and he replied, "Yes, he was the most competitive player I ever played baseball with."

Mr. Bowa said that Pete was looked up to as a great leader by other members of the

Phillies during his stint in Philadelphia. He said that Pete was respected very much by

his teammates and opponents while playing a game. He said that he liked Pete Rose very

much and the Pete liked him. I asked him if he found Pete a big part of his team's

success and he replied, "He was our missing link."

I asked him how he viewed Pete Rose as opposed to Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle,

he said, "I think all of the above have done things that they would love to undue."

I asked him if he thought Pete Rose bet on baseball games and his answer was

plain and simply, "No....The only thing Pete did around our team in 1980 was go to the

horse track."

I asked him if he agreed with Bart Giamatti on the banning of Pete Rose and he

said, "No. I believe once Pete served his punishment he should have been reinstated."

He also said that the banning did not change his view of him because, "...everyone

is entitled to a mistake."

Talking about if Pete Rose should be allowed in the Hall of Fame, Mr. Bowa said,

"Yes. I believe there are a lot of Hall of Famers who have made some mistakes in their

lives."

When asked about whether Pete Rose would be let into the Hall of Fame shortly,

Mr. Bowa replied, "No, not until there is a new Baseball Commissioner installed in

baseball."

Unfortunately as we all knnow, Bud Selig will be around for a long, long time.

I believe myself that now, Pete Rose should be let into the Hall of Fame. I think

that Hall of Fame standards should be based on what you do on the field, no off of it or

on the side. That should make no difference. The Hall of Fame is for the very elite that

succeed in baseball with such grace, that when their name is brought up, the thought of

greatness follows. Pete Rose is one of those elite. He is one of the greats. He is one of

the best there is. Larry Bowa attested to that. What more could you ask for than the

word of a man who played with him?

There are many men in the Hall of Fame and playing baseball now that have done

much worse things than betting on baseball. I'm sure that when the question of goodness

in the Hall comes up, no one can attest to there being no bad. Pete Rose's betting on

baseball was not proven, but Cobb's murder and his game fixing was. Albert Belle's

ticking time-bomb temper is real. There's no telling who he will lash out at next, or what

he will do, or when his timer will finally reach 12:00 and explode. He is not banned from

baseball for his outrageous actions toward loyal fans and inquiring photographers. Ty

Cobb was never banned from baseball for killing a man or throwing a game, so why

should Pete Rose be banned for something that seems trivial and unimportant as

compared to their faults?

Pete Rose should have been in the Hall of Fame five years ago, when he would

have been eligible. He deserves a bronze plaque up on the wall of greats where it

belongs. But for now, Pete must sit alone, thoughts of the Hall of Fame lingering in the

back of his mind. His dreams are just that--dreams. The smell of the grass, the feel of

the bat, and the excitement of the game still burn in his stomach. Unfortunately, he must

live with the nightmarish reality that he is not in the Hall of Fame for a petty reason. Pete

sits alone, entrapped in a world that will not forgive him. Even though he is not in the

Hall of Fame, his life on the field and accomplishments will live on forever in the hearts

of those who came to love Mr. Charlie Hustle.