Pete Rose found the subject a bit morbid and was reluctant to talk about it publicly, but he was never afraid to tackle the issue.
Rose always knew that question would be heard loud and clear throughout the baseball world the day he died.
Now that Rose, who died Monday at his home in Las Vegas at the age of 83, is gone, the question everyone wants to know is: Will Pete Rose be inducted into the Hall of Fame now?
Rose and I often discussed this topic, and the topic of his Hall of Fame candidacy came up in nearly every conversation, but he always hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
He desperately wanted to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but also feared, and perhaps realistic, that he wouldn’t live to see it if it happened.
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Rose, baseball’s all-time hitting leader, was banned for life in 1989 for gambling on games he coached while playing for the Cincinnati Reds.
Still, he argued that it would be grossly unfair for Major League Baseball to permanently penalize him.
“There are guys who have been sentenced to life in prison, and they’re being released before I am,” Rose said.
Rose pointed to the number of steroid users in the Hall of Fame.
He talked about how players who have been arrested and even suspended for drug use have become ambassadors for the game.
When MLB started embracing gambling, putting ads on the outfield walls of baseball stadiums and showing gambling shows on television networks, it was certainly time to let him in, he said.
Rose also came up with the classic line, “If I had an interpreter, I’d be in the Hall of Fame,” after Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was arrested on illegal gambling charges in March.
But the cold truth is that Rose was always keenly aware that he might have to die to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Then MLB would never have to worry about what he said, what he did, or where he gambled again.
He cannot embarrass the match from the grave.
It’s anyone’s guess whether Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB will consider bringing Rose back. At that time, the Hall of Fame will put Rose on the ballot of the Era Committee, and voters will decide.
Once again, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, who helped the Chicago White Sox win the 1919 World Series, was never inducted into the Hall of Fame and has been dead for 72 years.
“He was always interested in seeing other people participate who did things they shouldn’t have done,” said Bob Crotty, who grew up in Cincinnati as a Big Red Machine fan. , and have been close friends with Rose for the past 15 years. “He always talked about it. He just wanted to be on the ballot.”
Some people will never forgive Rose for his gambling activities, and others will dislike him for his rough demeanor, mean accusations, or loud and sometimes obnoxious personality.
“I remember putting Pete on a plane from Cooperstown and driving him home,” Crotty said. “He was flying in and he said to me, ‘You guys are the others.’
“I said, ‘What does that mean?’
“He said, ‘If this plane crashes, Pete Rose and the others are going to die in the crash.'”
Crotty laughed as he recounted the story, saying there were many stories with Rose that he would never reveal publicly.
“Pete was simple,” Crotty said. “But he had a complex soul. This guy was a savant. If you talked to him about baseball, he’d tell you about pitch counts, the weather, everything about that moment. Baseball, who knows more? ?And he also had a kind side when his daughter died. [in 2015]Pete left a long and heartfelt message.
“But his personal life took a turn there.”
Most people last saw Rose in Cooperstown this summer, signing autographs behind a store on Main Street, still showing off his celebrity status. However, his health was beginning to deteriorate. He needed help navigating the steps. Friends said he was taking heart medication. His memory was fading.
He no longer looked like that shaggy-haired kid who didn’t let anything get in his way and played baseball with burning passion and positivity.
“Really, I think Pete’s health has deteriorated since Joe Morgan passed away.” [in 2020]” Crotty said. “That had a big impact on him. He idolized Joe Morgan. That threw him for a loop.
“He became depressed and more emotional. There was a hard, rugged shell around Pete, and that shell was breaking.”
Rose was loved by his fans and will definitely be missed by all of us who knew him. No one played the game more passionately. No one cared about the game. No one told a better story. There is no one whose entire life has been baseball.
And it was all taken away.
Hall of Famers, including Mr. Morgan, who was vice chairman of the Hall of Fame board, and former home run king Henry Aaron, campaigned for years to elect Mr. Rose to Cooperstown. They met with four different commissioners on behalf of Rose. No one moved.
Morgan asked why a player suspended for performance-enhancing drugs can be placed on the Hall of Fame ballot, but Rose isn’t.
“I made a mistake. I can’t whine about it,” Rose said a few years ago. “I chose the wrong vices. I should have chosen alcohol. I should have chosen drugs. Or I should have hit my wife or girlfriend. This is because you will have the opportunity to
“Too many gamblers in baseball don’t get a second chance.”
Maybe one day I’ll finally get a second chance.
But as he feared, he would not live to see it.
Follow MLB columnist Bob Nightengale on social media @BNightengale
(This story has been updated to add new information.)