Why Pete Rose Should Be In Cooperstown

Charlie Klein

Imagine for a moment a player who has the following on the back of his baseball card: 4,256 hits, .303 batting average, and 1,314 RBIs. A 17-time All-Star Selection. Winner of three World Series, including a World Series MVP. A Lou Gehrig Award winner. After reading this, one would probably say that man should be a first ballot hall of famer. Who is this man? None other than Pete Rose, and he deserves to be inducted.

It seems like every year that Major League Baseball inducts players into its Hall of Fame the name Pete Rose inevitably resurfaces and rears its ugly head (if names had heads). Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice joined names like Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Hank Aaron amongst the most hallowed names in their sport yesterday in Cooperstown, NY.

While they celebrated the accomplishment many again began debating who yet remains uninducted that merits inclusion in the Hall of Fame. To me, Pete Rose has always deserved a place in the Hall for his historic career as a baseball player.

Yes, Rose has been guilty of violating many parts of baseball's unwritten rules of how to play the game. Yes, Rose has bet on baseball games he managed. Yes, Rose purposely ran into a catcher in an All-Star Game. Yes, Rose has plead guilty to income tax evasion. But that has nothing at all to do with the player he was during his 23 year playing career.

Some may argue that he should not be inducted on all of the factors I just presented. They will surely say, "If Rose deserves to be in, then so do Sosa, McGwire, Clemens, and Bonds." That is an utterly fallacious argument. It is an undeniable fact that Pete Rose did not use steroids. Furthermore, all of his legal issues came once he became a manager or after he had retired from baseball. Whether or not he should be inducted is entirely dependent upon his career as a player. Ty Cobb had a terrible reputation but is still thought of as being one of the greatest of all time. He did nothing wrong as a player, which sets him apart from the likes of Bonds.

Ultimately the liklihood of Pete Rose ever being inducted in the Hall of Fame is extremely minimal. Even if Bud Selig complied with the wishes of a teammate of Rose's Joe Morgan and legend Hank Aaron, I doubt the Veterans Committee would vote for him.