Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame?
July 28, 2009 – 10:15 am by Lance Zimmerman
The only way Pete Rose was ever going to punch his ticket to Cooperstown was for a major outcry of players to go on record stating that he’s served his punishment. For some reason, that’s exactly what has happened during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony over this past weekend.
Hank Aaron, one of Rose’s biggest detractors, has gone on record stating “I would like to see Pete in, he belongs there.” Five years ago, Pete Rose was still living on baseball’s leper island. Now, players are embracing him, as if he’s a changed man all of a sudden. Rose’s crime of betting on baseball is seemingly less and less of a major violation thanks to the rash of steroid outbreaks over the past decade.
If Rose does get in, expect bottles of champagne to be sent to Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro and any other player who has been outed on HGH usage. Keith Olbermann joined the Dan Patrick Show to talk about his time in Cooperstown for the 2009 Hall of Fame inductions and Pete Rose’s possible reinstatement.
Olbermann was asked what his gut feeling was on the possibilities of this reinstatement:
“Saturday night they had a reception for all of the Hall of Famers but the buzz was something was going to be happening down the street. As you know, Pete (Rose) is always here induction weekend, signs autographs for money and just camps out at one place, greets the fans. He always has a line of people and he does good business. Sparky Anderson walked in on Saturday sometime late in the afternoon, teary-eyed, saying essentially that ‘my wife has talked me into this. We made a mistake 20 years ago. That should not detract from how you have contributed to the game, what you have done in the game.’ That is a milestone thing because you know that Sparky, after the 94 walkout wouldn’t manage the replacement players, has not talked to Pete, if not in the whole 20 years, than not in 15 years certainly. I was talking about this with Rose yesterday. I went in there and asked what was going on and he was very tight lipped which we all know is not his style. Something else Bill Madden wrote about today was he said there was at least one other Hall of Famer he was talking off the record about a bunch of them trying to convince (Bud) Selig that it’s time to do this.”
On what he feels Pete Rose should do now:
“I think he’s doing exactly what you would hope he would do. Pete is playing this very close to the vest and the more he does that the better. It is much more important that others advocate for him. You mentioned (Hank) Aaron’s influence on Selig. As we know, our former colleague Mr. Morgan has gotten more and more power in the infrastructure as time has gone by within the Hall of Fame and I couldn’t get from Pete what he and Joe talked about, if Joe just came in to say ‘hi Pete, you stink.’ When he made the gesture, it just suggested that these are the types of guys who support what probably would form or inform Bud’s opinion on the matter.”
On if it would be the 65 remaining alive Hall of Famers that would be voting Rose in:
“One assumes that’s the case, but lord knows, how many times have the Constitution of the Veterans Committee, how many times has that changed in the last 10 years? How many times have the method of election changed? In other words, I’m not saying that they would change it to get Pete in but we assume that he would go to the Veterans Committee because his time has expired with the Writers Association. Then again, the Commissioner and the Hall of Fame could simply say ‘well, he has not yet been eligible for the writers association and his eligibility starts this winter.’ I think they can do almost anything they want with these rules.”
Listen to Keith Olbermann on the Dan Patrick Show
Tags: Bud Selig, Dan Patrick, Hank Aaron, Keith Olbermann, MLB Hall of Fame, Pete Rose
