Pete Rose Has Been Knocking For Years: Open the Door To the Hall of Fame

Within the last twenty years, many of major leagues baseball's records have been shattered. Obliterated. Certain records will never be broken: Cy Young's 511 wins, Nolan Ryans 5000+ strikeouts, Joe DiMaggio's hit streak, and Pete Rose's hit record are very attainable, just not too probable.

I saw Cal Ripken break Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak and it took my breath away. When Rickey reached his milestones, I smiled not only for him, but for the game of baseball. However the public was always enamored with the home runs; power, muscle, strength—that's what we admire.

As years went on, players went on to inject themselves and do anything to get to Maris. Then McGwire. Then Bonds. It's to the point now where if anyone breaks Barry's record we'll automatically assume they're dirty. That's not a bad thing, since most of them have been. Look at the top twenty home run hitters of all time.

Plenty of records have been broken, and plenty of people have cheated to get there. Pete Rose embodied the prototypical baseball player. One of the greatest hitters ever. Longevity, durability, and hustle were what he was known for.

He went on to manage, and that's where it all went wrong for him. He bet on games. Now, if he was betting against his team, I would understand the outrage. One could of suspected him of throwing games or telling his players to do so. But he was betting on his team to win, showing his players he had so much faith in them he would bet his own money.

Hardly a crime.

But every dugout in major league baseball has a "No Gambling" sign hanging up for many years. He flat out ignored the rules and did it anyway. Therefore he should pay.

He was banned from baseball for many years. Rightly so. However no-one was going to vote Rose into the Hall of Fame for his managerial skills. It for what he did on the field. He didn't cheat or take drugs to improve. He just maximized his talent and played hard.

He broke a rule. The punishment should end somewhere.

Bottom line is with all the performance enhancing drugs and stuff going on, I think a man betting on his own team to win is a distant second. He belongs with record-breakers like Ripken, Gwynn, and Henderson. Clean. Not these muscle bound fools who make you wonder where they're hiding their syringe.

His time is up. I'll take a gambler over a cheat any day of the week. You may not want to hire Pete Rose, but there's no question he belongs in Cooperstown. If we could revere A-Rod, why not give Pete a break? Baseball gives out too many second chances to deny this man what he deserves.