Gambling is illegal in almost all of the US. Which means you have to gamble with potentially dangerous elements such as the Mafia (in Pete Rose case). If you get in debt with those people they can have a lot of control/influence over you.
Gambling at all is bad enough but betting on your own team brings all sorts of things into question. The guy has to be a fiendish addict
If you bet against yourself, sure.
But if you bet on yourself, what's the harm?
Isn't gambling legal in Vegas? That's not really a dangerous element.
The key thing about this, is he didn't bet AGAINST himself. So I have no problem with this. Put him in the HOF as the most hits ever, make a note he gambled on baseball, don't include him in any of the HOF ceremonies. Problem fixed.
Baseball writers are assholes who couldn't make a team, so they judge everything like assholes. None of these writers have faults? None have cheated on their wives, done drugs, or gone gambling? I highly doubt that. If they have such high standards for what is supposed to be the best ever, their standards should be just as high in order to vote.
I know Bob Ryan has a vote in who gets into the baseball HOF, and he condones violence against women. Surely the voters should be held to a high regard too?
The writers aren't the ones who made the rules on who is eligible for the Hall of Fame, nor do they have any control in making him eligible.
There is nothing in Pete Rose's background to suggest he would gamble "honorably".
Gambling can become a disease and there is absolutely no honor beholden of addicted gamblers. They will do anything and everything they can to tilt the odds in their favor.
He clearly did not need the money - he did it because it was an addiction and winning a bet becomes an obsession for these guys - even if means doing it dishonorably.
Yeah, I don't get why it's a big deal if he was only betting on the Reds to win.Unless he bet against himself while he was playing, i don't really care.
Just going to make a mental note of all who want to put Pete in the hall of fame but want to ban all alleged or known steroid users.
The commissioner does. The writers have more influence on the commissioner than anyone besides the owners. The owners don't give two shits about Pete.
Also, I'm speaking in general about all the guys they are "keeping out" who beat records.
Or letting guys in with stats like this:Should they hold alcoholics out of the hall of fame?
*6 months later*
"So he threw a couple of games. It's not like he cost them a championship or anything. "
Edit: at this point it's principle. If you let Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame, it would be like Homer allowing Bart to see Itchy & Scratchy the movie. You have to put your foot down or you risk an entire generation of players not taking you seriously over these kinds of things. Sort of like how the witch hunt over Canseco/Bonds/Maguire slowed down the blatant juicing and brought the home run numbers back to a realistic level.
Should they hold alcoholics out of the hall of fame?
You can't decide "degrees" of cheating. Cheating is cheating.
Alcoholics don't intentionally lose games to make money - addicted gamblers could.
So he was flying to Vegas every time he wanted to make a bet?
Who are you to say that people can't?
Gaylord Perry is a known cheater (he even admitted it) and he's in the HOF.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Perry
Rose (along with Bonds) should be in the HOF if you've already let in other known cheaters.
You can't decide "degrees" of cheating. Cheating is cheating.
I don't know why this is becoming such a huge deal now as the fact that he bet as a manager is so much worse. Heh had much more potential control over a game as a manager than as a player.
That said, he should be in the hall of fame. Even if you do it quietly without any fanfare or ceremony. Just put on his plaque that he was banned for life for gambling. If the hall of fame really wants to tell the history of baseball it should include everything. You can't take ghengis khan out of a history book.
The hall of fame means nothing to me.
And I'm still willing to forgive the guy and let him in the HoF.
I'm nobody.
But why is one form of cheating acceptable for the HOF and the other isn't?
If you're arguing about integrity of the game, how is betting worse than doctoring/spitballs?
The hall of fame died when they started letting Craig Biggio and Jim Rice in but won't give Edgar a sniff.
Or letting guys in with stats like this:
His .260 average, 138 HRs and 853 RBI just do not get the job done.
Bill Mazeroski
Get off the high horse and let the man in.
I'm nobody.
But why is one form of cheating acceptable for the HOF and the other isn't?
If you're arguing about integrity of the game, how is betting worse than doctoring/spitballs?
Guys take roids to play better and increase stats and by association their chance to win.
Guys who bet on baseball on some days and not on others and then lie for 30 years about it there's no way you can trust they tried to win every day.
Now if you've ever seen Pete Rose play baseball and knew nothing about the betting you'd never believe a guy like him could ever not give it 100% every game. It's sad.
I don't know why this is becoming such a huge deal now as the fact that he bet as a manager is so much worse.
I don't know why this is becoming such a huge deal now as the fact that he bet as a manager is so much worse. Heh had much more potential control over a game as a manager than as a player.
That said, he should be in the hall of fame. Even if you do it quietly without any fanfare or ceremony. Just put on his plaque that he was banned for life for gambling. If the hall of fame really wants to tell the history of baseball it should include everything. You can't take ghengis khan out of a history book.
One of the, unfortunately, very rare times that a player gets inducted into the HoF for his defensive ability instead of just gaudy offensive numbers and you seriously want to hold it against them?
Seems like people keep ignoring Ninja Scooter and Albatross when they point out why betting on yourself is bad.
There are plenty of people just reading the topic title, and maybe the OP, and then tossing their two cents in without reading anything else.
On the other hand, that's kind of par for the course for many threads on GAF.
A non-community thread has to get through the first 200 posts or so to get past the initial reactions phase and into the discussion page.
Of course I am. If we're keeping the best hitters out of baseball because of off field incidents, we need to go through the guys who are in and were mediocre.
Ozzie Smith did the same thing.
Aparicio
Nevermind a guy like Jim Bunning, who never threw in the postseason is in there.
It's a joke of a HOF and has been for years. The holier than thou attitude is pathetic. Millions of people have played the sport, yet the all time hit leader is out because he bet on some games?
Bobby Cox made it after hitting his wife.
Kirby Puckett had a restraining order put against him, and lost his job with the Twins for groping a woman.
Class acts in the HOF.
You may have something there.
Although, it still happens some on longer threads as well >.>
I don't know why this is becoming such a huge deal now as the fact that he bet as a manager is so much worse. Heh had much more potential control over a game as a manager than as a player.
That said, he should be in the hall of fame. Even if you do it quietly without any fanfare or ceremony. Just put on his plaque that he was banned for life for gambling. If the hall of fame really wants to tell the history of baseball it should include everything. You can't take ghengis khan out of a history book.
Then it stops being the Hall of Fame and becomes the Hall of notable shit that happened in baseball.
There's that pesky honor component to the whole deal, and these writers are tight about that.