MLB considers the possible reinstatement of former Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose

Elizabeth Miller

April 22, 2015

By Taylor Boggs ’16, Sports Editor

Twenty-five years after Pete Rose was suspended from Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner, will consider Rose’s application. Rose was suspended justifiably based on MLB regulations: he bet on the outcome of baseball games as a player and Reds manager during the 1980s. The penalty for betting on games is grounds for a permanent suspension, even though no evidence was found that Rose ever bet on the Reds. John Dowd, MLB special investigator in the Rose betting scandal recently said that, “Pete committed the capital crime of baseball” and thus there needs to be significant punishment. This “ultimate sin” is worse than steroid use and other MLB rules and consequently should be treated as such.

Today Rose is the still the Hit King with a career record of 4,256 hits. Likewise, the player holds the records for including games played, wins played in, at bats and times on base. He played in 17 All-Star Games, was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1963, won three batting titles, NL MVP in 1973, won two Gold Gloves and three World Series Championships and was the World Series MVP in 1975. In addition, he is the only player in baseball history to play 500+ games in five different positions. There is no denying that Rose is a great baseball player, but the issue stands controversial: Should he be reinstated into baseball? Should he be legible for the Hall of Fame? Should he be legible for both? Or neither?

Many say that Pete Rose has done his time and deserves a second chance. As times and standards have changed, there must be reason to believe that baseball has changed as well—since the 1919 Black Sox scandal and the 1989 betting. Many sports commentators have indicated that they would love to have the hit king reinstated such as Tony Clark, director of the players’ union: “He made a decision. He made a decision that was not the right decision. He made a decision that he has paid a price for.” Baseball’s public also seems to agree with this.

However, Pete Rose accepted his punishment with little grace. Denying his involvement for years, he only came clean in his 2004 book under pressure and coaxing (and for money). Rose always had many demons and there was inconclusive evidence that he financed drug deals to support his extreme gambling problem. Tommy Gioiosa, Pete’s ex-wingman, believes that “We always regret things we do and try to fix it, but some things remain broken.” So should reinstatement impossible based on the circumstances?

One argument is that Rose should be in the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments, but not for baseball. In this way, he receives recognition for his on-field successes and a chance to earn respect. That being said, baseball has specific rules (cardinal sin of betting) which need to be respected as well. The second argument is that if Rose is reinstated into baseball, the Hall of Fame should remain shut to him due to his transgressions—it is no place for players that commit the ultimate crime.

The question comes down to whether or not Pete should be accepted back into MLB because of his successful career even though none of the 14 players that have been permanently suspended have ever been reinstated. In his report Dowd argued that “Betting on baseball by a participant of the game is corrupt because it erodes and destroys the integrity of the game of baseball. Betting also exposes the game to the influence of forces who seek to control the game to their own ends. Betting on one’s own team gives rise to the ultimate conflict of interest in which the individual player/bettor places his personal financial interest above the interests of the team.” Furthermore, the issue has turned into a political, moral and personal matter. It is not a quantifiable decision but a matter of the implications of baseball’s rules and the changes in the public sphere that have sprouted over the last 25 years.

As a side note, in 2010 Rose admitted his faults before the public and MLB community. He was hoping for some good to come out of his wrecked career—he wanted to earn respect: “If I can help a young kid to know what I went through, maybe I can prevent them from going through the same thing,” he said.

***Rule 21(d) “Any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible.”