OT: Pete Rose

[Arlcatsfan]

Pete Rose the hardest playing baseball player I have ever seen past away today at age 83. He never took a play off and played to win all the time. With his history of gambling I was going to put this under the legalizing gambling thread about college football but thought this needed it's own thread. I still think he should be in the hall of fame especially with the proliferation of all the gambling we are bombarded with whenever we watch a sporting event.

 

[Jaguar 88]

He was one of the best players during his time, and he does deserve his place in the Hall of Fame, regardless of the gambling, especially since it seems gambling online is all the rage now, and the insane money involved. To me all sports have been severely tainted by it. I can't watch a NFL game anymore without thinking it is fixed with all of the strange calls, either by the officials or even the coaches. I am sticking with college football, but concentrating my attention on both my Alma Maters and NU. There is no money in FCS football, especially in a league with non scholarship players.

 

[techtim72]

He was one of the best players during his time, and he does deserve his place in the Hall of Fame, regardless of the gambling, especially since it seems gambling online is all the rage now, and the insane money involved. To me all sports have been severely tainted by it. I can't watch a NFL game anymore without thinking it is fixed with all of the strange calls, either by the officials or even the coaches. I am sticking with college football, but concentrating my attention on both my Alma Maters and NU. There is no money in FCS football, especially in a league with non scholarship players.

Not being cute here, but isn't FCS football on the same betting aps?

 

[Jaguar 88]

Not being cute here, but isn't FCS football on the same betting aps?

Probably, but I am not sure too many people would bet on it, not like CFB.

 

[TXnumbCAT]

I loved Pete Rose as a kid, but he admitted to betting on his own team's games, which is hard to defend even in an era of ubiquitous legal sports gambling.

 

[Hungry Jack]

RIP Charlie Hustle.

One of the greatest nicknames ever

 

[TheC]

As a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan whose formative years were spent in Cincinnati, I have always been torn about Pete. He was a local hero and undoubtedly one of the best ever. While I was a bit too young to appreciate the Big Red Machine in the moment, my dad and I did get tickets to see Pete's first game back when he became player-manager. In that game, he hit a triple complete with a patented head-first slide into third base. The stadium was electric!

I also faced his son in a high school baseball game (Pete Rose Jr.). He hit a double off me. It was no big accomplishment for him... I was a pretty terrible pitcher.

However, it is a little hard to gloss over the fact that he bet on his own team while player-manager. On top of that, he was an unrepentant jerk for most of his life.

The Reds' fan in me wanted to see everyone get past that and give him his due, including the Hall of Fame. Now that he is gone, it seems appropriate to me to put him in the Hall with the necessary explanations of his troubled tenure. At this point, we are no longer punishing him. We are punishing fans of the game who need to appreciate how amazing it was what he did. He bet on his team, but he didn't cheat to achieve those remarkable accomplishments.