Classic No Mas – Quite a Gamble
(With the Hall debates about McGwire and Bonds swirling, we take you back to the biggest Hall debate of them all – Charlie Hustler, the hit-king and the king of the clowns, who signed his own death notice 18 years ago today.)
On this day in 1989, Pete Rose accepted a lifetime ban from baseball. Major League Baseball had the goods on him – iron-clad evidence that Rose had been gambling on games for years, including betting on his own Reds while managing the team.
Rose knew he was dead to rights. Why else would he willingly agree to a lifetime ban? But it was the wording of the agreement that really screwed him up. In signing, Rose admitted that there was a reason for his ban, but did not admit what that reason was. MLB, meanwhile, agreed to not release the findings of their investigation into Rose’s gambling habits and to remain mum on the topic. It was a nod-nod-wink-wink situation of the highest order, and one can only imagine that Rose was motivated to sign it with an eye toward the Hall of Fame. Well aware that no man known to have gambled on baseball, no matter how great he was, would gain entry to the Hall, Rose obviously thought this little bit of sleight of hand might keep his candidacy alive.
So he bullheadedly, ridiculously stood by his claim for years – yes, I gambled, but not on baseball. It was quite a gamble in its own right – very Pete Rose, really. Damn the torpedos. Of course, he lost, and he lost big. But it was bound to happen. As any good gambler knows, you can’t bluff when the other guy’s holding the nuts.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
If he ever gets into the Hall, it will be a sad, sad day. If Shoeless Joe and his family have had to suffer indignity for 80 years, Pete should get no special treatment– and Pete’s guilt was much more clear-cut than Joe’s.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
1. Agree with you on Rose. Every “confession” that comes out, timed to sell his latest book, buries him further.
2. Disagree on Joe Jackson, however. He took the money to throw the games. Yes he was repeatedly screwed by the miserly Comiskey, yes he hit .375, yes he was played backwards by Ray Liotta in Field of Dreams, but the fact remains he took the money to throw the games.
August 25th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Rose should get in (4000 hits!) BUT it should be a posthomous honor. He gambled and put the integrity of the game in question. The price he will pay is not getting the nod to Cooperstown till he’s pushin up daisies.
August 25th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I’m not a scholar of the Joe Jackson case myself, but my impression is they never had the nuts on him.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
ill watch eight men out a million times before i watch a pete rose doc.
December 27th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
super article