OT: Pete Rose still barred from baseball

Good. Next they should ban FOX for having him on their playoff coverage. Pete Rose is a jerk who has behaved like someone who doesn't really want to be reinstated. This is a two way street and to try to portray Rose as a victim is a joke.

see a game in every MLB park, usually road tripping with my oldest son.  We've had some great faher/son times making these trips.  (I have only a handful of parks left to visit and I'd probably be finished, except for earning a living and they keep building new ballparks.)  However, the day they reinstate Pete Rose, or let him in the HOF, I'll have attended my last MLB game anywhere.  In his own mind, Pete's in the HOF.  Let's keep it at that. 

Count me for the "happy he's still banned" crowd.  The guy bet on baseball when he knew, for a fact, that he'd get a lifetime ban for doing it.  Now he wants to game the system.

Tough luck, Pete.  You knew what you were doing.  It's the Black Sox Hall of Shame for you.

And he accepted his punishment and thus ended the investigation before it was complete. This suggests he took his punishment rather than MLB find out and publicize that he threw games for gamblers. He deserves to be barred for life.

Nobody has ever done anything short of murder that brought more disgrace and threatened their sport more than Pete's manipulation of his team as a manager while gambling

I think his baseball achievements deserve to be recognized, however he did deserve the punishment he received, and since being punished he's only hurt his case for reinstatement, not helped it. I really hope something gives, because so far this has been a fight everybody loses, especially baseball and the fans.

I feel it's getting a little over the top with the Rose thing. The Baseball HOF has always been weird though. Never been a unanimous selection. Means some jackass actually didn't vote for guys like Ruth or Cobb.

Gambling on game you have an influence on is THE ONE unforgiveble sin. No compromise, no come back in 20 yrs and see me. Anyone who doesn't understand this is beyond reason. Hire Vince McMann as commish and then reinstate him. Fuck Pete Rose.

I think baseball does this so people will keep talking about it in order to pretend baseball and any form of a hall of fame is relevant.

Francisco Franco is still dead.

I have read the entire 225 page Dowd report with its 7 volumes of exhibits, as well as followed the controversy and following new information ever since.  Hre is some background:

1)  Rule 21 has been in existence since the Black Sox scandal.  It is prominenently posted in EVERY clubhouse from the majors down to the lowest of the minors.  it states that if anyone who has an impact on the game who gambles on it SHALL be permenently banned.  EVERY day Rose showed up for work, he saw this.  

2) John Dowd conclusively found that Rose bet as BOTH a manager and a player.  Nothing made Dowd's publicly prepared report that did not have not one, but TWO additional separate pieces of corroborating evidence.  There are BOXES of additional documentation that did not make his report which are even more damning.  Rose had every right to participate in this investigation, interview witnesses, and have a hearing.  He chose not to do so.  

3) At the time Commissioner Giamatti was investigating Rose, Rose sued MLB in federal court for an injunction to stop the investigation.   All the while vehemently denying he bet on baseball in any form.  

4) After losing the federal court case, Dowd met with Rose and meticulously went through the evidence which included telephone records and betting slips.  Giamatti and Dowd tried to work with Rose for a compromise, in which Rose would admit to the betting, but would get help and counseling.  Rose turned this down.

5) Instead, Rose agreed to Giamatti not making an 'official' finding of gambling but would sign off on the ban.   The only reason Rose would do this is because he was well aware of the damning evidence against him.  If he proceeded, Giamatti most certainly would have made that official finding.  Giamatti also left open the possibility of an appeal after one year.   

6) Immediately after the ban and for 15 years therafter, Rose continuously and heatedly attacked Giamatti and Dowd, contesting that he had ever bet on baseball or the Reds..  He never apologized.  

7) In 1991, the HOF voted in a rule that no player banned from the MLB is eligible for induction to the HOF.  (As an aside, Rose's accomplishments as a player are indeed noted in the exhibits of the HOF.)

8) After 15 years, in 2004 Rose finally wrote a book -- receiving a HUGE bonus -- in which he finally admitted to betting on baseball.  The book's January release completely overshadowed the announcement of the 2004 HOF inductions, including Molitor and Eckersley.  This was perceived as both a money making and attention grabbing ploy at the expense of the game itself.  

9)  It was only at a Reds Banquet in 2014 that Rose actually apologized to his own teammates.

10)  In 2015, ESPN discovered sealed documents from a 1989 federal investigation -- records from Rose's bookie  showing without a doubt that Rose had been lying all along.  

11) In meeting with Commissioner Manfred in September 2015, Rose continued to lie and prevaricate about his betting activity.   Note:  Manfred is the FOURTH Commissioner who has supported the Rose's ban from the game.  All four had met with Rose privately to discuss a possible way to reinstatement.  

12) Several players have privately told Dowd that Rose's example has kept them from following down the same path.  

13)  MLB and the HOF are completely separate entities.  Manfred had ZERO power to make any ruling regarding any induction into the HOF.  

To those who feel Rose has 'paid the price' in the ensuing 26 years, consider:  in that time he has continued to deny the incontrovertible, lie, and attack the MLB, Commissioner Giamatti, John Dowd, and media interviewing him.  His story has changed repeatedly.  HIs 'apologies' are way too little, too late  and smack of remorse over getting caught, not for his many years-long continuous violation of baseball's one cardinal rule.