This seems complicated, but it really isn’t.
News item: Pete Rose, who had more MLB hits than anyone in history, has died at the age of 83.
You can read about Rose’s career at that link, or just about anywhere, and the various reasons he isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Beyond his gambling, which he denied for 15 years until he admitted it to sell books, there are accusations he had a sexual relationship with an underage girl in Cincinnati in the 1970s. Rose, basically, wasn’t a good person. He will likely always hold the all-time MLB record with 4,256 hits and his on-field career was one of the greatest of all time. Granted and stipulated.
What I want to look at in this article is whether Rose will ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The short answer is, “No.” At the moment, Rose, even in death, is permanently banned from baseball. A number of years ago, the Hall of Fame’s board voted to exclude anyone banned from baseball from induction, and I don’t see any indication that position will change.
You might bring up the associations that baseball, and other sports, now have with gambling operations and say, “Well, MLB is doing it, why can’t Rose be reinstated?”
That one’s easy. Even though MLB and gambling companies now have ties, the rule banning baseball personnel from betting on baseball games is still in place. It’s known as Rule 21, and states, quite clearly:
“Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year.” Whereas, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
The rule existed when Rose was playing for and managing the Reds — had been for 50 years! — and posted clearly in every MLB clubhouse. If anyone should have known that rule backwards and forwards, it would have been Rose, who played in more games (3,562) than anyone, and managed several hundred others. Earlier this year, the commissioner’s office permanently banned Pirates infielder Tucupita Marcano and disciplined four others for betting on baseball games.
This sort of thing might happen again going forward, with MLB’s association with gambling outfits. Also granted and stipulated: This is not a good thing for Major League Baseball and other sports, and likely will not end well. But here we are.
As for Pete Rose, he broke the baseball rule that you simply cannot break, and accepted a lifetime ban as a result. You know, if he had apologized right away and shown some remorse, instead of stonewalling for 15 years, it’s possible he might have been reinstated. But he didn’t, and now he has passed away.
One of the greatest players ever? Absolutely, without a doubt.
Also broke the rule you cannot break? Also absolutely, without a doubt, and as a result, he should be forever kept out of enshrinement in Cooperstown.