America's #1 Online Cigar Auction
first, best, biggest!

After watching his interview on ABC last night, I've come to the conclusion that Pete Rose is in big-time financial difficulty ... my opinion is that he's into some pretty nasty loan sharks for extremely heavy gambling debts and his latest revelations are less motivated by possibly gaining admission to the HoF than to stay out of the clutches of these guys ...

I'm thinkin' that Pete is afraid of becoming Jimmy Hoffa's roommate if he doesn't raise the $$ they want from him ...

SteveS

interesting observation. if he was that concerned about the hall of fame, he could have come out with the truth ten years ago.

i will watch the sports headlines.

JonR

please define "iced".

i thought in street lingo that meant killed.

He was wearing the suit of a man who got ripped off at a garage sale, or he himself is down-in-the-dumps, or plays it off that way. I think he is the type that cold-calls sporting card companies to do overpriced card-signings, so he can sleep in free hotels and stay on the move. SAD! JMO
Dave

I grew up LOVING baseball, played all day and untill they told me to go away nobody wants you anymore!! I would have paid them to let me play. He was a great hitter who sold out the game! He is OUT!! No Hall, No baseball. Pete you hustled yourself out pal sorry. Just my .02 worth

contendertotes ...

In every baseball clubhouse, there is a prominent posting of the MLB rule against betting on baseball ... whether you're a player, a coach or a manager ... Pete knew the rules, but couldn't settle for betting on horses or football ... he broke the rules KNOWING what the penalty would be if he got caught ...

A second chance? ... why? there's a LOT of evidence that indicates that even in his admissions, he's continuing to lie ...

Here's something that goes a long way toward explaining Pete Rose ... in SI, Frank Deford writes: "The late Richie Ashburn became an announcer with the Phillies after his playing career ended. I'll never forget asking Ashburn about Rose after the latter had spent his first season with the Phillies. 'Yes, let me tell you about Pete Rose,' Richie said. 'If ever Pete took one drink at lunch, he would be an alcoholic by nightfall. It doesn't matter what: baseball, gambling, women. Rose is the most obsessive man I've ever met.'"

Everyone loved Pete for the obsessive way he played right down to running to first on a walk ... he played the game with the sort of hustle we'd like to see more of in many of todays players ... but I'm afraid Rickie Ashburn's observation is all too true ... Pete became an obsessive gambler (and apparently still is) and sadly, it seems he's also an obsessive liar. And it IS sad ... his admissions which he has made in hopes of getting back in the game's good graces are being so badly mismanaged, he's costing himself support in areas where he's always had it ... with the fans and with the sportswriters ...

I'm one who's always maintained he belongs in the HoF because of his accomplishments, but like Peter Gammons, I too am having some second thoughts after watching the circus unfold this week ... Pete hasn't just shot himself in the foot this time ... it could easily be a mortal wound ...

And, here is the final paragraph of the SI story ... this, as much as anything, explains why I both agree AND disagree with you ...

"In the end, we are all -- however we feel -- just so angry at Rose. That's the crux. And, invariably, it is the people who love baseball the most who are most torn. If we support Rose's claim to the Hall of Fame, we're furious that he's tarnished his brilliance so by malfeasance and deceit. Yet if we find him unbearable and unworthy, maybe it pains us more because we know that it is precisely this curious, flawed creature who, better than anyone who ever played the game of baseball, played it as we idolize it, played it as we wish everyone did."

I am not arguing that he's not guilty....he is , and admitted it i'm sorry to say. my small point is just that "he got caught" ! you can't even for a moment think that there aren't "many" others....playing in any sport that doesn't bet on some form of sporting event ! but they aren't getting caught....yet. and after all the years of ridicule and shame he's had ( even though he's lied about it ) he's still had it "inside" "eating at him" and for all those years...man ! let him be....and let him in. murderers even get parolled ! ...... i don't want to sound like i'm arguing but this has been slapping him in his face for many years.....let it pass, he does deserve to be inducted "before" his death !

His name could have commanded a press-conference at any time to come clean. He was just sleazy enough to lie over and over again.

Sure...there are players and coaches that probably bet at aome time or another, but not only does that sway away from the point of Rose himself, but what message does that send 8-13 yr. old baseball players? "As long as I am talented, I can be a jerk." NOT GOOD for baseball!

Let's look at the opposite: A player like Harold Reynolds. A good baseball player, a great human being, and one of the best baseball analysts. The only thing holding him back was a higher career batting average, but would be automatically in if you considered his "character" for the game. I can think of many more players even better in talent since, that did the same.

Rose's name would look ugly in the Hall, and if anybody wants to support Pete's payback to loansharks and bookies, by all means...buy his book. I feel sorry for the contributing writers and consultants that actually had to spend extensive time with such a greaseball to get information that probably could have been acquired through his greaseball friend that he lived with.

It would be Extreme hogwash, and a pinch of baulderdash if he got in, but JMHO.
Dave

smelly4tay ...... i'm sure that if you look into the hall of fame ??/ you are gonna find all kinds of skeletons. for his preformance...on field ! if he had not been cought it is undesputed that he would have been in years ago....right? right ! so ,since he got caught gambling on "one" game...even though we all know there was countless games bet on by him....but one game...and he's the games worst enemy ! now ....think about all the "unknowns" that "have" and "still do" secretly bet on a sporting events. he got caught and thats what's persicuting him.....one game. i'm not saying he was right or wrong ...yes it is stated in the rules and in the dugout and in the clubhouse , but they still do it ! player "A" just has a friend or his brother do it for him.....it's not less of a charge , because he still initiated the thought and bet in the first place ! if he hadn't got caught ...he'd be in ! so after all this time and misery...just let him in and be done with it ! his sentance to this date has been tough and he has paid a price for that one bet already without not being let in !!

Thank you very much 0patience !!! my point ! there have been others that by the guidelines shouldnt have been let in but guess where they are ! Pete Rose Belongs in the hall ! it's still going to be posted all about the gambling , but he's got the numbers and record to be included among them that are already there ! look at Babe Ruth....What a drunk and womanizer ! if that's moral enough for the hall then one bet should be !

Whoops, my reply was in response to smelly. LOL!!

Dang, that should have said......
As much as I didn't care for Mantle, he did deserve to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for his accomplishements. Even though he did gamble and drink and fight and just about everything else. LOL!!

I mean ONE BET.....as in one bet too many , sorry steve...not trying to rile you...just stating my opinion. and yes i agree the hall should change thier rules on alot of areas ! when drug users ( which doesn't set a good example to the kids ) is still "elegible" there's something very wrong ! and the shadows in the closets of the ones in the hall already are nowhere as bad as gambling on a game your "not" involved with personally ( it may be the same sport but your not playing in it). and if not caught...do you agree...putting all predijust about his gambling aside and behind.....he would be in the hall now ? right ! that's my major point , he...on accomplishments in the game of baseball....deserves to be inducted ! gambling aside ( i know it is a "RULE" ). yes , this is a good discussion !! :-)

A new rookie this season may get 200 hits.
And he may repeat that feat for the next 19 years.




Yet he would still be 400 or so shy of Pete Rose's hit record.

I don't care about Rose the Thug getting re-instated. But to keep him from the hall of fame diminishes the importance of such an institution.

Offensive ability in MLB is based on HITS.
And the player who had more than anybody else in history is not in the hall.

Cooperstown is a political sham.

Lets see if I have this right. He bet baseball games BUT NEVER his own? Really so a gambler is not going tobet on the thing he knows best?! Really?? If he bet baseball he sure as crap bet his games! And if he bet his games then you know there is the chance that he did something to influence the games outcome. His credentials say he has HOF on the field, he broke the number one rule. I am sorry Pete your out. Lets stop this "come on give the guy a break: that we have in this day and age.

AND while we are at it!! Toss OPUT anohter one of my EX favorites!!!

O.J. from football hall!!

Much debated subject, but here's my .02


Pete Rose is by FAR ONE OF THE BEST ball players the game has ever seen, matter of fact one of the best bats as well. Pete Rose was not a super start player but his baseball playing was tremendus , he was a fighter everyday he step foot in the field. Pete Rose as a player is as much deserving of a Hall of Fame spot as anyother player. With that said, I have moxed feelings....

I am in a limbo, sort of speak. Pete was a great ball player and if that is all you'd look at he must go to the HOF, his game sure deserves it. However I do belive that what he did, his betting, had a tremendous impact in baseball. Think about it, what makes this sport so interesting? I'll tell you what, the fact that any team, can come in and play against another team and have the opportunity to win. The fact that a team like the Marlins, can have a season as mediocre as they did, come back in the post season with one of baseball's lowest salaries, play a great ball game and beat the team with the highest salary, and a team with great tallent!! That is baseball, but what happens if one day a thought crosses your mind, "well it was probably fixed".
As soon as people start to think that of the game, baseball is over. I belive Pete Rose did this to the game, I think that by his dissregard and dissrespect for a game that gave him everything, he has done an irreversable thing. Is this merrit his banning from the HOF? I don't know?? What is the HOF, it is a museum, and only a museum, Hitler is in museums arround the world, is Pete worst than Hitler? Why shoudn't he then be allowed in Baseball's museum? The HOF if filled with memorries of men and their acomplishment in baseball and shortcomings as men! Pete shouldn't be there because he made catastrophic mistakes????
Like I said I have mixed feelings, and I am glad I am not the one making the decision. On the other hand, I am certain that Pete Rose should never, under no circumstance be evere allowed to manage a professional baseball team, I would even go as far as to say that he should never be allowed to participate in anything that has to do with professional baseball!! He is a disgrace.

Rick,

You can never compare Willie to Pete, it's like comparing Hitler to Winston Churchill!!!

Let's forget about him during his managing years.
Let's look only at his playing years, because those are the one's he made special.

We all agree Rose is a thug.
But he is the greatest hitter ever.
And he did it without being the greatest pure athlete.
He did it by shear will, determination, grit and perserverance.

And he gambled.

But does ANYONE think, for even one moment, that this individual, who put his body on the line every game, would EVER bet "Against" his own team???
And did ANY of his at bats ever allude to tampering with the outcome of a game???


Let's not be so coy as to think the once-proud, but always-great institution of Major League Baseball could be systematically dismantled because a player or two bet on games.
Heck, one of today's greatest homerun hitters shatters his bat and reveals his illegal cork, and all he gets is a slap on the wrist and public embarrassment.

I think a corked bat, or a scuffed ball, or a designer steroid, have affected MANY more games than a simple bet by a player ever has.

Betting on a game and "throwing a game" may appear similar, but they are quite different indeed.

******* NEWSFLASH********* SOSA VINYARD CLOSED*******MISAPPROPRIATION OF CORK SUPPLY**********MORE AS THIS STORY UNFOLDS************************************