OT- Pete Rose lies again

Submitted by WMUgoblue on

It looks like yet again Pete Rose has been caught in another lie, and this time it might be the last straw.

 http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13114874/notebook-obtained-lines-shows-pete-rose-bet-baseball-player-1986
 

His accomplishments as a player are truly significant and worthy of being an inductee into the HOF, but when these things keep coming up it's hard to find any way for him to get in under any circumstances.

momo

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:12 PM ^

The spectacle of sports journalists sneering at the lowly people who *gasp* actually play the sports they cover and *shock* may not be as pure as the driven snow, which the journalists themselves assuredly are.

 

Who gives a crap about the HOF.

Bill the Butcher

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^

I think my biggest issue with his banishment from the HOF is that he clearly has a gambling addiction.  It's an addiction just like drugs or alcohol etc and there are plenty of people in the HOF that were alcoholics or drug addicts.  Unless they can prove that he intentionally threw games that he was betting on I think that Pete Rose deserves to be in the hall of fame.  

Baseballs HOF seems so stuffy and controversial to me.  I get that its the national past time and its an old game and all that but the way they vote people in and the vitriol that some voters have for candidates makes it unlike any other sport IMO and its kind of annoying.  

MGoblu8

June 22nd, 2015 at 3:05 PM ^

My thoughts exactly. Guys with addiction issues get chance after chance, most of the time. He should have either came out and admitted he had a problem, but he seems to be on another level of arrogance.
Baseball and its writers act like its so pure, but there are a number of liars, cheaters, thieves, or worse in the hall of fame. Cobb was throwing games, and he was the first guy in.

grumbler

June 22nd, 2015 at 5:16 PM ^

Great set of strawman arguments there, boys.  The only thing that makes it horseshit is that no one is arguing that the HOF is a magical place of pristine morality.  If anyone does argue that, you'll be ready.  In the meantime, its probably best to avoid making shit up.

MGoblu8

June 22nd, 2015 at 6:19 PM ^

Do you have a HOF vote? If not, why are you so upset? Rose was and is wrong. It just seems crazy that betting on games gets you banned, but cheating in the game doesn't. Cobb was involved in gambling on and fixing of games in which he played. He's in. Just seem odd to me.

The Mad Hatter

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:21 PM ^

As long has he wasn't betting on his own team to lose (or shaving points, etc) I don't care if he bet on baseball, or lied about it.

He is one of, if not the greatest, baseball players of all time.  He deserves to be in the HoF.  

Then again, I'm not a fan of vacating wins or other such punishments for off the field infractions.

 

ckersh74

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^

That's exactly what it is. He didn't want everything to come out about his activities, because he knew they had him hung, 7 ways 'til Sunday. I'd bet you a beer that this is just the tip of the iceberg. There's a whole lot more from where this came from.

ChuckieWoodson

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:25 PM ^

4256 hits by betting against yourself and your team. 

I hope one day he stops getting portrayed as a villian but sadly I don't think that day will ever come.

HelloHeisman91

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^

I know that fans that got to watch him play love him and they seem to make excuses for him. The facts are that he crossed a line that simply can't be crossed, knowingly and consistently. He made his bed and I don't feel bad for him at all.

Blue Balls Afire

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:36 PM ^

Betting on his own team to win as a player = Okay in my book for induction into HOF.

Betting on his team to lose as a player = Not okay, of course.

Betting on his team to to win or lose as a MANAGER = Not okay for HOF.

ckersh74

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:36 PM ^

The only time he ever came clean was when he had a book to hawk, and money to make. If the participants are betting on their own games, then how do I know that I'm watching real competition, and not just that sport's version of Monday Night Raw. Pete knew the rule. Pete knew the penalty for breaking the rule. Pete knew that never seeing his plaque in Cooperstown was part of that punishment, part and parcel. Pete still broke that rule. Pete agreed to his punishment. Now Pete doesn't want to abide by what he agreed to. Let Pete get his ovation at the All Star Game next month. It's the last one he'll ever get from MLB.

ckersh74

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^

Betting on baseball while in MLB carries a 1-year ban. That is not what is at issue here. Betting ON YOUR OWN TEAM is what gets you the permanent banhammer. If he had just bet on the Dodgers, he could have come back in 1990, and this would have been settled a long time ago.

softshoes

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:51 PM ^

If Rose had not been player/manager of the Reds at the end he probably would not have broken the record. He put himself in the lineup while better players sat on the bench. He misused his pitching staff while he bet on "his" team. His gambling altered his managing.

His gambling had him in severe debt, most likely to the wrong people.  Everyone who says he didn't bet against his team what about the days he didn't bet? What's that telling a bookie? What edge do they get knowing this? Maybe he didn't care if they won those games.

You can't assume his intentions were good anymore than I can assume they were bad. I do believe that betting the kind of money Rose was betting leads me to believe that his intenions were only what was best for Rose and not for the game.

In the end once you get on a game you can influence then that game falls under doubt. If people can't understand that then we might as well get Vince for the commisioner.

mGrowOld

June 22nd, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^

The only group of people MORE delusional about the character of their cherished local hero than Cincinnati denizens and Petey are the PSU slappies and St. Joe.  I can tell you that as crazy in denial as the Penn State apolgists are the people from Cinci.  To them, Pete did absolutely nothing wrong and is just being railroaded by a vindictive, spiteful MLB who are just jealous of his success.

They are absolutely insane.  Trust me.

ckersh74

June 22nd, 2015 at 3:03 PM ^

He knew that was part of the punishment when he agreed to it. He thought he could get around it. He was wrong. He should have thought about that before he got on the horn with the bookie. This whole ordeal, every last bit of it, is the fault of Pete Rose, and nobody else. Not happy with it? Take it up with him.

ScruffyTheJanitor

June 22nd, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^

I understand he agreed with it. I am just saying that it should never have been offered in the first place. Of course, I couldn't care less about the baseball hall of fame (despite being a huge baseball fan) because something called a "Hall of fame" is just a terrible idea. If this were a "Museum of Baseball history", of course he'd be in it, and they would be able to talk about what a jackass he was for betting on baseball.

ckersh74

June 22nd, 2015 at 3:50 PM ^

The rule, and punishment, had been in place since 1920. Baseball didn't need to "offer" anything. They had enough evidence to drop the hammer. It was either 1) Quietly go away for good and keep what's left of your reputation, or 2) We'll do this in public, wreck every last bit of integrity and goodwill you have with your fans, and THEN throw you out for good. If there was an offer, it was an offer he couldn't refuse, if you will. Pete Rose chose Door #1 (wisely), and then slowly but surely just has to find out about Door #2. If he keeps his mouth shut, does his card shows, and goes about his business, a lot of this crap doesn't come out. His issues are self-inflicted.

Swazi

June 22nd, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^

He probably signed it thinking hed get reinstated after some years away. George Steinbrenner got a life time ban for hiring a scumbag PI to investigate Winfield to get dirt on him so he could justify terminating the big contract George gave him.

Bud reinstated him in one of his first years as commissioner.



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Everyone Murders

June 22nd, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^

Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.

Pete Rose fails on integrity and character at least. He lied over and over and over again about the sports gambling, agreed to a lifetime ban, and whined when MLB would not ignore his own ban. 

Did he have great playing ability and contribute (as a player) to his team?  Sure.  That's what makes his case so tragic.  (It feels less tragic because Pete Rose strikes many of us like a dick, and a dick who likes to play the victim when he's in fact wrong.  And he was pretty vicious towards his detractors.  I throw him in the same bin as Lance Armstrong.)

LSAClassOf2000

June 22nd, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^

Rose bet heavily on college and professional basketball, losing $15,400 on one day in March. That came during his worst week of the four-month span, when he lost $25,500.

As a minor note, $25,500 in 1986 is about $55,400 now (rough calculation), so that's a rather significant amount of money to lose in four weeks. Well, perhaps less significant if you're making high-end baseball money even in the 1980s than to, say, you or me, but that still noteworthy in my opinion.

I guess that for me it comes down to not only did he knowingly break a rule that he would have had to acknowledge and undersign (not betting on games), he was doing so persistently. It doesn't make him any less Charlie Hustle nor does it diminish the numerous honors and records, but for HOF purposes, I don't see how you can ignore the integrity issue.