Posted on 01/07/2004 4:50:23 AM PST by thesummerwind
I have always maintained that if Bud Selig decreed Pete Rose eligible for the Hall of Fame pending the vote of the Baseball Writers Association, I would vote for him as a player. Now I hear Bud is going to issue a two-year probation and make Rose eligible only by the vote of the veterans' committee. Fine. Because these last two days have made me rethink my initial decision to vote for him.
First, in betting on baseball as manager -- a position that demands standards higher than those for players -- Rose demonstrated a complete lack of respect or caring for the game.
Then came this week. Turning around on Bart Giamatti? Despicable.
Also, the fact that he has orchestrated the release of his book and his admission of guilt at a time when Dennis Eckersley and Paul Molitor -- two great people who overcame a lot, which Rose hasn't yet -- are being elected is a bold statement that he has no respect for Cooperstown, and that he wants to be in the Hall for one reason -- to make money to feed his addictions.
This is a man who admitted something in a forum in which he can make money. He has no remorse, no respect for anything but his next bet. Rose is perhaps the lowest figure in baseball in my 32 years of covering the sport.
Fay Vincent, a very good man who deserves all of baseball's apologies for the way he was treated, refuted that "the fans want Pete in Cooperstown" argument by pointing out that, in 1947, 15 of 16 owners voted not to allow Jackie Robinson into the majors -- and 85 percent of Americans were against such integration, too. Well, what Branch Rickey did against public opinion, seven years before Brown v. Board of Education, is the single most important moment in baseball and sports history, proof that it's not about what the majority wants at one moment. It's about what's right.
And until Pete Rose proves to me that he cares about something other than Pete Rose, he does not have my vote.
Eckersley had addiction problems, admitted them, confronted them and became a Hall of Famer. Same with Molitor.
What they did never impaired the integrity of baseball.
As far as I'm concerned, Rose can go to Cooperstown and sign tawdry items for those who, like him, have no respect for integrity, baseball or the Hall of Fame.
What a bum.
A young Johnny Bench came to Cincinnati because all he wanted to do was play ball for them. Later in his career he turned down better money to stay with Cincinnati...where he became a member of the community.
Jonas Saulk discovered his cure for polio in Cincinnati...ending the terrible suffering of many people with his contributions.
Pete Rose was born and raised in Cincinnati...he always did everything for himself first. And they named a street after him!
A class act, eh?
Certainly he has not yet grasped the part where you can spend MORE than $8 on a haircut...
This will never happen.
they should put his face on the urinal cakes.
The Salk polio vaccine, developed at The University of Pittsburgh, was declared safe, effective, and potent. Jonas Salk and a team of Pitt researchers were the first to develop a successful vaccine for the three types of polio virus. A massive testing of the vaccine in the U.S. and parts of Canada followed. The scope of the trials was unprecedented in medical history. In a few years, polio cases dropped from a high of 57,900 to barely a handful.
Anyhow Johnny Bench was the greatest, and a great guy. I was a Pirate fan when he hit that homerun in the 9th inning of the big playoff game back when the Pirates went on to lose the game on a wild pitch by Bob Moose...... and I still like Johnny Bench after he broke my heart that day.
But, Pete, nah, Pete's in the bush leagues when it comes to integrity. In a way, I feel a little sorry for him, because there was never anyone strong and good enough in his life to slap him firmly into decency!
Yes, I already have the quagmire all over my face on that one. Bench was a real gentleman.
LOL!
LOL! _- the cakes aren't quite fat enough for his head.
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