I selected this topic for my graduation project because I feel that the banning of Pete
Rose is a huge social issue in the baseball world to this day. There are a majority of
people who believe that Pete should be forgiven and let into the Hall of Fame, but there
are many who feel he should never again be a part of baseball. This topic still reigns as
one of the biggest national issues concerning the morals of baseball. Should baseball
forgive Pete for his alleged wrong-doings? Should they keep him away from baseball so
they look like heroes trying to keep the corrupt things out? The real question is, should
Peter Edward Rose be allowed in the Hall of Fame? That is for the fan to decide.
One of Pete Rose’s greatest feats was the night he broke Ty Cobb’s 57 year old
record of 4191 career hits. Here is how Marty Brenneman and Joe Nuxhall called the
game that infamous night:
Brenneman: One out…and here comes the main attraction…And they’re on
their feet…Rose walking towards the plate…That number on his back
emblazoned on the minds of sports fans probably forever and ever…The
most famous number 14 in the history of this game…And trying to make
history right now in the first inning tonight….He levels the bat a couple of
times, Show (the pitcher) kicks and he fires…Rose swings…
The Essay on A Rose for Emily 42
"The man himself lay in the bed" Reading this atypical piece of work entitled "A Rose for Emily", written by William Faulkner encourages a sense of thrill and stimulation within. Since Mr. Faulkner resided in Mississippi most of his writings reflect his home state, as does "A Rose for Emily". The first person minor point of view is being told by the townspeople. The main character, Miss Emily, in ...
Nuxhall: There it is! There it is! Get out! Get out!…All right! All right!
Brenneman: Line drive, left center field, and there it is! Hit number
forty-one-ninety-two…A line drive single into left center field…A clean
base hit, and it is pandemonium here at Riverfront Stadium…The
fireworks exploding overhead…Rose is completely encircled at first
base…And a kind of outpouring of adulation that I don’t think you’ll ever
see an athlete get any more of…Little Pete fighting his way through the
crowd, and Pete being hoisted on the shoulders of a couple of his
teammates…
Nuxhall: Quite a base hit…Ha ha…Yes it is, yessir… (Cosgrove 183).
Four years after that hit, Peter Edward Rose was banned for life from baseball
because of allegedly betting on baseball games. Ty Cobb’s open admission to murdering
a man did not stop him from entering the Hall of Fame, so why should something that
was never proven stop Pete Rose from being in it? Many players today are getting three,
four and even five chances to make amends with baseball. None of them are banned
today. No even ill-tempered, anger-driven, alcoholic Albert Belle of the Chicago White
Sox. Today is the day of rehabilitation and forgiveness. Why won’t baseball forgive Pete
Rose?
Pete Rose’s numbers and achievements are astounding as compared to any player
who ever played the game of baseball. Pete, also known as Charlie Hustle, a nickname
given to him in spring training by the great Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford, won Rookie of
the Year honors in 1963. From then, he played an amazing 24 years, a superhuman feat
for baseball. In that span, he has a .303 lifetime average with three batting titles in 1968,
1969, and 1973. In the record books, he is first in games played with 3,562, first in
at-bats with 14,053 and first in hits, topping the late Ty Cobb by 65 hits with 4,256. He
is second in doubles behind only the great Tris Speaker, fourth in runs with 2,165, and
tenth in base-on-balls with 1,566. There have been tens of thousands of players ever to
grace the game of baseball with their presence. For Pete to hold such high places in these
The Term Paper on Babe Ruth Baseball Nineteen Game
Thesis Statement: Babe Ruth has had a long lasting, positive affect on Baseball. Baseball has been a big influence in the world. In the early years of baseball the game, which was once a children's game has developed into a business. The game has developed immensely from what it used to be from rules, to equipment, to different leagues. Along the way many people and teams have captured the hearts ...
records is a sensational feat, almost as if Pete were a superhero tearing through the
barriers of doubt, hardship and pain. Pete is the only person in Major League history to
play 500 games at five different positions; 939 at first base, 628 at second base, 634 at
third base, 671 in right field, and 595 in left field. All of these record certainly makes
him one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history.
Pete was also known for his attitude toward the game. Instead of trotting down to
first base after a walk, he ran full speed as if running out a close grounder. He would
slide head first into bases and bowl over opponents if they were in his way. His attitude
got him respect from his fellow Major Leaguers.
Pete was also known as an aggressive better. During the 1987 season, he
allegedly bet from $9,500 to $19,000 a day through his mutual friend, Paul Janszen who
served six months in jail for tax evasion involving the sale of steroids. Janszen said that
he once heard Pete talking out loud about selling cocaine to get money to keep gambling
(Leerhsen 75).
Pete once told of how a bookie threatened to burn his house down and
break his children’s legs if he didn’t pay him (Leerhsen 74).
Pete was said to have sold
off his memorabilia to pay off his gambling debts. His solution was always to win his
way out of debt. At one time, he allegedly owed from $600,000 to $900,000 to bookies
in 1989. Pete’s aggressive betting led the Commissioner of Baseball, A. Bartlett Giamatti
to investigate if he really did bet on baseball games.
Through the investigation of Pete Rose’s betting on baseball, he was defiant about
doing so. He denied betting on anything other than horse races. Rose once said, “I’d be
willing to bet you, if I was a betting man, that I have never bet on baseball.” (Dolphin
and Hoard 52).
He was known to hang around gamblers and known drug dealers. In
1989, a man named John Dowd prepared a 225 page report against Rose. In that report,
nine people came forward and told of Pete’s betting on baseball. Rose was implicated on
The Essay on Another Baseball Paper Teams Game Played
The activity that I enjoy most is Baseball, which is a competitive game of skill played between two teams, each with nine players. Baseball is Americas National Pastime and is played by people of ages. Abner Doubleday, a former American Civil War officer, is the inventor of baseball. Born in Ballston Spa, NY, Doubleday attended school at the United States Military Academy. As a young man, ...
betting on games that he managed or played in, pointing to the fact that he might have
thrown a game to obtain money. Rose’s lawyers and Major League Baseball fought back
and forth for months on what punishment Rose should get. Both sides broke off talks in
July but got back together again on August 16. After that meeting Rose signed a
settlement that would ban him from baseball only if Giamatti promised to keep an open
mind about reinstating him in one year. That settlement said that Rose would have to
drop his lawsuit on baseball that said that he was given an unfair investigator and a
prejudiced commissioner (Closing 23).
The settlements said the Rose could apply for
reinstatement in one year, which was a Major League rule for banned players. The
agreement did not say anywhere that Pete bet on baseball, but it didn’t say that he didn’t.
Rose said that he agreed to the banning to avoid further damage to baseball, thus, cutting
through his rough outside to show his soft love for the game. Even though, Rose’s
lawyers kept fighting to say that Pete was banned for other reasons than betting on
baseball, rather his questionable associations and illegal wagers he admitted making on
football and basketball games (Lieber and Neff 30).
The settlement said that Rose
violated Major League Rule 12 which states: “Anyone found to have bet on games
involving his team is declared permanently ineligible,” and, “Anyone found to have
engaged in unspecified conduct not in the best interests of baseball can also be ruled
permanently ineligible” (Lieber and Neff 30).
The agreement Rose signed never said
which part of the rule he violated. Rose still lives with his banishment from baseball,
hoping that some day it will finally and deservedly be lifted.
There are numerous baseball players that come to mind when thinking about
players who have committed crimes and done things against the law. One of them is Ty
Cobb. Ty Cobb’s records are also very astounding as compared to Pete Rose. His 36
steals of home still stands in the record books. He is first in batting average with and
The Essay on Major League Baseball Pitcher Time Game
Abolish the Designated Hitter Do you prefer a bases loaded double that clears the bases and involves an exciting play at home plate or a boring three-run homerun where the baserunners trot around the bases while the defense stands around with dazed looks about them Would you prefer stolen bases, squeeze plays, and trying to move the baserunners to make something happen as opposed to a team waiting ...
average of .367, first in batting titles with 12, first in runs with 2245 and second in hits
with 4191 only behind Pete Rose. His records are wonderful, but he still holds fewer
than Charlie Hustle.
Cobb’s attitude also got him far in baseball, only not the way Pete’s did. Players
came to fear Cobb. He sharpened his spikes before games so to let opponents know that
if they wanted to tag him out, they’d almost certainly take a trip to the emergency room.
He wasn’t liked by many for his over-aggressiveness which he says was caused by
teammates taunting him as a rookie. As plainly stated, Pete Rose’s and Ty Cobb’s attitude
toward baseball were completely opposite.
While in his playing career, Ty Cobb admitted to killing a man. Cobb was
walking down the street when a man supposedly jumped him with a knife. Cobb, who
pulled out a gun, couldn’t make it fire, so the man slit him up the back with his knife.
The man then fled into a dead-end alley where Cobb beat him to death with the gun
(Stump 10,11).
“I used that gun sight to rip and slash and tear him for about ten minutes
until he had no face left. Left him there, not breathing, in his own blood,” Cobb once
said (Stump 11).
Cobb was also accused of fixing a Detroit-Cleveland game back on September
25, 1919. Cobb, Tris Speaker, Hubert “Dutch” Leonard and Joe Wood wagered $5,500
on the game because they knew the outcome. The man who gave the money to a bookie
implicated the four. Later, Leonard came out about the fixing as payback for Cobb
cutting him from Detroit and for Speaker not claiming him off waivers. Cobb and
Speaker were suspended which was eventually lifted with their acquittal (Stump
370-372).
As a person can plainly see, Tyrus Raymond Cobb was much worse than Pete
Rose but ironically was the very first man to enter the Hall of Fame.
Another player that has been given chance after chance is the Chicago White
Sox’s Albert Belle. Albert Belle is known for his huge frame and loud bat, but he is also
known for his outrageous temper. Once, Belle refused outright to shake hands with the
The Term Paper on Pete Rose Hall Of Fame
... Fame; if Ty Cobb, who was known to gamble on baseball games, is allowed in the Hall of Fame, then why is Pete Rose denied entrance ... into the Hall of Fame after ... more than 500 games at each of five positions (Cosmic Baseball Association). Pete Rose was banished from being inducted into the Hall of Fame ...
man that once suspended him, AL President, Bobby Brown. He once chased
trick-or-treaters off of his lawn with his car, then threatened to kill them if they came
back. He fired a baseball at the chest of a fan, and when Sports Illustrated tried to talk to
him, he said, “SI can kiss my black ass” (Bamberger 74).
Belle was fined $50,000 for
holding a five minute yelling bout with Hannah Storm. He was suspended 7 games for
using a corked bat, but after that, he hit 10 homers in the last 20 games of the season
which proves that he thrives on his anger (Bamberger 76).
On April 6, 1996, he threw
two baseballs at SI photographer Tony Tomsic for trying to photograph him after warning
him not to. Tomsic cut his hand when he raised it to protect his face from the oncoming
ball. One time, he dislodged a porcelain sink from the clubhouse wall and smashed it to
pieces with a bat (Bamberger 79).
He almost got in a physical fight with a columnist
before Indian’s catcher Sandy Alomar broke it up (Bamberger 80).
Belle’s anger has
given him a bad reputation throughout his baseball career.
Belle also had a problem with alcohol some time ago. In 1990, he spent two
months in a Cleveland Clinic for alcoholism and his temper. According to one, Belle
became a closet drinker and showed up hung over for work (Bamberger 79).
The
Cleveland Indians covered up by saying that his temper was caused by his alcoholism,
thus giving a socially acceptable reason for it. Through all of this, Albert Belle still plays
baseball and has never been banned from the sport. Pete Rose’s gambling is worse than
Belle’s uncontrollable temper which could lash out on anyone at any minute? I think not.
The world knows Pete Rose’s faults: problem gambler, unreliable husband, and
father and tax cheat. None of that diminished what he accomplished on the field. Rose
accepted cash for baseball card shows and failed to report it to the IRS. This act landed
him in prison. That same crime was committed by Hall of Famer’s Willie McCovey and
Duke Snider. Did Major League baseball think twice about putting them on the ballot for
The Essay on Baseball I Chose Ball Game League
I chose the topic baseball, because it's a game I have loved since I was a little kid. I have played baseball since I was five, and followed professional baseball since I was about nine. That is when I started collecting baseball cards and watching the games. Although I had never really cared about baseball's origin and history, lately I have been trying to find out as much as I can about it. ...
the Hall? No. Rose was a frequent visitor to horse and dog tracks, but so was the great
Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby. “Cap Anson was perhaps the biggest racist in baseball
history. It was his refusal to play against a black pitcher, George Stovey, in the 1880s
that allowed the owners of the time to bar blacks from the game for nearly 70 years”
(Gary).
Did baseball look at these men’s private life when they elected them to the Hall?
No, they didn’t. It was the gutsy move of one commissioner who tried to play God to
make himself look good. One commissioner who felt Pete’s trivial accusations
outweighed his records ten to one. Unfortunately, the numbers are the other way around.
For my interview, I talked to Larry Bowa, a former Philadelphia Phillies star who
played with Pete during their championship season of 1980. The switch-hitting shortstop
has the highest fielding average of any NL shortstop in one year at .991 in 1979. A
two-time All Star and two-time gold glove award winner, he was one fantastic player and
a great asset to the game of baseball. He was the Phillies third-base coach until this year,
where he is the third base coach for the Anaheim Angels who are lucky to have such a
great guy on their team. I asked Mr. Bowa if he liked playing baseball with Pete Rose
and he replied, “Yes, he was the most competitive player I ever played baseball with.”
Mr. Bowa said that Pete was looked up to as a great leader by other members of the
Phillies during his stint in Philadelphia. He said that Pete was respected very much by
his teammates and opponents while playing a game. He said that he liked Pete Rose very
much and the Pete liked him. I asked him if he found Pete a big part of his team’s
success and he replied, “He was our missing link.”
I asked him how he viewed Pete Rose as opposed to Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle,
he said, “I think all of the above have done things that they would love to undue.”
I asked him if he thought Pete Rose bet on baseball games and his answer was
plain and simply, “No….The only thing Pete did around our team in 1980 was go to the
horse track.”
I asked him if he agreed with Bart Giamatti on the banning of Pete Rose and he
said, “No. I believe once Pete served his punishment he should have been reinstated.”
He also said that the banning did not change his view of him because, “…everyone
is entitled to a mistake.”
Talking about if Pete Rose should be allowed in the Hall of Fame, Mr. Bowa said,
“Yes. I believe there are a lot of Hall of Famers who have made some mistakes in their
lives.”
When asked about whether Pete Rose would be let into the Hall of Fame shortly,
Mr. Bowa replied, “No, not until there is a new Baseball Commissioner installed in
baseball.”
Unfortunately as we all knnow, Bud Selig will be around for a long, long time.
I believe myself that now, Pete Rose should be let into the Hall of Fame. I think
that Hall of Fame standards should be based on what you do on the field, no off of it or
on the side. That should make no difference. The Hall of Fame is for the very elite that
succeed in baseball with such grace, that when their name is brought up, the thought of
greatness follows. Pete Rose is one of those elite. He is one of the greats. He is one of
the best there is. Larry Bowa attested to that. What more could you ask for than the
word of a man who played with him?
There are many men in the Hall of Fame and playing baseball now that have done
much worse things than betting on baseball. I’m sure that when the question of goodness
in the Hall comes up, no one can attest to there being no bad. Pete Rose’s betting on
baseball was not proven, but Cobb’s murder and his game fixing was. Albert Belle’s
ticking time-bomb temper is real. There’s no telling who he will lash out at next, or what
he will do, or when his timer will finally reach 12:00 and explode. He is not banned from
baseball for his outrageous actions toward loyal fans and inquiring photographers. Ty
Cobb was never banned from baseball for killing a man or throwing a game, so why
should Pete Rose be banned for something that seems trivial and unimportant as
compared to their faults?
Pete Rose should have been in the Hall of Fame five years ago, when he would
have been eligible. He deserves a bronze plaque up on the wall of greats where it
belongs. But for now, Pete must sit alone, thoughts of the Hall of Fame lingering in the
back of his mind. His dreams are just that–dreams. The smell of the grass, the feel of
the bat, and the excitement of the game still burn in his stomach. Unfortunately, he must
live with the nightmarish reality that he is not in the Hall of Fame for a petty reason. Pete
sits alone, entrapped in a world that will not forgive him. Even though he is not in the
Hall of Fame, his life on the field and accomplishments will live on forever in the hearts
of those who came to love Mr. Charlie Hustle.
