Here is Why Pete Rose Should Be in the Hall of Fame

Visits: 15

As another year of MLB Hall of Fame voting passes, 2022 marks one of the more significant years for voters in recent memory. This was the final year on the ballot for two of the more polarizing players in MLB history: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. To nobody’s surprise, neither player reached the minimum 75% of votes required to get into Cooperstown. Bonds’ absence from the Hall of Fame is one of the more commonly debated topics amongst MLB fans. 

His career statistics are undeniable: one of the greatest players to ever play the game, without a doubt. But his role as baseball superstar turned steroid user turned him into one of the biggest antagonists in the sport. He had no chance the second he was found guilty in the court of public opinion. Neither did Clemens, nor Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa. But before any of these players set foot on an MLB diamond, before the steroid era, before the homerun races, there was one player whose absence in Cooperstown is still felt to this day: Pete Rose.

The Greatest Player Not in Cooperstown

With all due respect to any of the players mentioned above, Pete Rose has long been considered the GOAT. From 1963 to 1986, Pete Rose was your favorite baseball player’s favorite baseball player. There wasn’t a baseball fan around who didn’t have a proud collection of Pete Rose baseball cards, and for good reason. Aside from maybe Ichiro, hitting a baseball has never seemed so natural then when Rose was in the batter’s box. He led the majors in hits seven times, and put up some gaudy stats including in 1969 when he hit for an average of .348 through 156 games. 

Rose is still the MLB career leader in games played with 3,562, total plate appearances with 15,890, total at-bats with 14,053, and of course, hits with 4,256. Through all of the advances in technology, the juiced balls, and the steroids, nobody has managed to come close to topping Rose’s numbers. He is widely considered as the best pure hitter to ever suit up in the MLB, so why is he not in the Hall of Fame? In 1989, it was discovered that as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Rose bet on MLB games. He signed and agreed to an indefinite ban from the sport. 

Why Rose’s Case is Different

Cheating is cheating is cheating. Except for Rose, there was never any proof that he cheated or threw games to win a bet. He broke an MLB rule about betting on games as a player or manager. That in itself is black and white. Rose’s argument is that he never knew the MLB would pass a rule two years later that would restrict any banned players from appearing on a Hall of Fame voting ballot. It’s not that nobody is voting Rose in, it’s that they can’t even if they wanted to. 

At least Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, and Sosa appeared on the ballots. Rose has applied for reinstatement twice to the MLB over the past five years, and has been rejected on both occasions. Is it possible that compared to these steroid-using offenders, the MLB is concerned that Rose’s actions wouldn’t seem as bad in the eyes of the voters? 

The Great Irony of Cheating in the MLB

While Rose has long been labelled a cheater, his on-field performances cannot be denied. They are untainted, everything he did on the field was his own natural abilities. Compared to those who took steroids to enhance their performance, Rose’s blemish seems fairly minor at this point. The Houston Astros’ cheating scandal that won them a World Series was just the latest in a long history of cheating in the game. The great irony with the MLB is that the sport looks down its nose upon cheating more than any other league, but nowhere else is it as rampant. 

The MLB has essentially washed its hands of Rose and are determined to keep him out of the Hall of Fame. At 80 years of age, Rose has had to live with this pain for more than thirty years now. He will always be the MLB’s all-time hit leader that never made it to the Hall of Fame. 

Yes, Pete Rose Deserves to be in the Hall of Fame

Nobody disputes that what Rose did was in poor taste. Sure, he broke an MLB rule, guess what? Lots of players have. The MLB is going to have to tread carefully over the next few years as legalized sports betting gains more traction across the United States. The league has such disdain for what Rose did, but is also signing sports betting partnerships left, right, and center. There is definitely a world in which Pete Rose is voted into the Hall of Fame if his name ever appears on a ballot, especially since sports betting has been glamorized and given a whole new light in this country. 

But most of all, the lifetime ban was an overreaction then and it’s an overreaction now. There is a long list of steroid-using players that have appeared on the ballot. Sure, ultimately they didn’t get in, but that’s not the point. The point is that Rose is being punished in a more severe way than any player who tested positive for steroids, or any player on the 2019 Houston Astros team that won the World Series. Why is Rose’s punishment so disproportionate to any other black eye the league has had? Let Rose be punished for his actions as a manager, but how can you deny that he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame as a player? He was the all-time hit leader three years before the gambling scandal, and he still is today. Nothing has changed for Pete Rose as a player, and you just get the feeling that if his name were to one day appear on a ballot, he would easily get that 75% of the votes. Maybe that’s what the MLB is so afraid of.