Latest news with #HitKing
New York Post
16-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Ex-Pete Rose teammate Tony Perez not dwelling on Hit King's mistakes
Pete Rose's Reds teammate Tony Perez told The Post he's thrilled Rose was removed from the restricted list by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and hopes Rose makes it into the Hall of Fame. 'Pete was always trying to win and doing what he'd have to do to win — that's a Hall of Famer,' Perez said. Advertisement Perez acknowledges the Hit King wasn't perfect, although he says he didn't notice anything amiss when they teamed together on Cincinnati's powerhouse teams. 'I know he made mistakes. But in baseball, he did what he had to do,' Perez said.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Williams: Finally, we can move on from Pete Rose
It's an exciting day in Cincinnati. Shut Up About Pete Rose Day has arrived. Finally. Fans and critics rejoice. The debate is over. The exhausting, 36-year-old question has been answered. Hallelujah. Does Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame? Doesn't matter if you answered 'no' ever since he was banned from baseball for gambling on the game in 1989 and can't forgive the Hit King for being a degenerate gambler until his dying day last September. Advertisement Rose has been reinstated to baseball and is heading to the Hall of Fame, headfirst no doubt. Can we move on from Peter Edward Rose now, at least until he's inducted into the Hall of Fame? Please. Even baseball commissioner Rob Manfred's decision on Tuesday to reinstate Rose posthumously sparked a debate. Some Rose fans couldn't just enjoy it. They had to complain that Rose wasn't alive for it and that Manfred waited until Rose died to make the decision. So what? Pete's plaque will be in Cooperstown. Be happy. APRIL 9, 1989: Pete Rose during the Reds vs. Giants game. Williams: Work hard. Play hard. Good things happen. Never forget Pete Rose, the ball player Advertisement More: When can Pete Rose go into the Baseball Hall of Fame? The moment is still years away For those who could separate Pete the player and Pete the man, it was a momentous day. For those who saw 4,192 at Riverfront Stadium or remember watching at a bar or in their living room, the reinstatement is a special, full-circle moment. For those baseball fans who only knew Rose as a man banned from baseball, you now get to know him for the Hall of Fame player he was. And for those of us who couldn't separate Pete the player from Pete the man, well, we also celebrate. Because now we can stop having the same tiresome conversations about Rose. Hall of Fame ballplayer. Not a good person. End of story. Advertisement Rose foreshadowed this story. He predicted Manfred's decision during his last media interview, talking to former Dayton sportscaster John Condit a few weeks before Rose died. 'I've come to the conclusion … that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die,' Rose told Condit. 'Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. 'It's for your family if you're here. It's for your fans if you're here. Not if you're 10 feet under.' But it was Rose's family that pushed for the reinstatement. His fans wanted it. The family will see Rose go into the Hall. His fans will, too. Advertisement So why be mad at Manfred? This decision needed to happen after Rose's death. Major League Baseball didn't want to run the risk of Rose embarrassing the game one last time. It would've been a PR nightmare for a game that can't afford to lose fans. And as long as Rose stayed connected to the gambling industry – which he did until the bitter end – there was always the risk that he was going to embarrass the game he claimed to love so much. None of that matters now, though. Pete's going to Cooperstown. I can hear the first words broadcaster Ken Wilson spoke on the 4,192 call that September night in 1985. "There it is." Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@ This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Pete Rose debate is over. MLB, Reds fans and critics rejoice
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Pete Rose's reinstatement opens door to Hall — for Hit King and other excluded greats
So what does your schedule look like on August 6, 2028? Any chance you'll be in the vicinity of lovely Cooperstown, N.Y.? You might want to stop by … For Pete Rose's Hall of Fame induction day. Oh, all right. We're getting ahead of ourselves here. There is no guarantee the Hit King will be inducted posthumously that day — or any day. But let's think about what MLB commissioner Rob Manfred just did, when he effectively reinstated Rose on Tuesday, removing him and other deceased players from the ranks of men who have been 'permanently' suspended from baseball. Advertisement Isn't he basically telling us: This man served his time? That's what it feels like. And if that's the message that begins to reverberate around baseball, the commissioner is going to discover he just did more than merely nudge open the door for a player who is no longer alive to walk through it. He's about to be reminded that when you do that, you never know who might come knocking. Because if this leads the Hit King into the Baseball Hall of Fame, do we really think that will be the end? Or will Barry Bonds be pounding on that door … and Roger Clemens … and Mark McGwire … and the descendants of Shoeless Joe Jackson? We can't truly know. Predicting the future is a job for the Psychic Hotline, not people like us. But let's think it through. Let's start with Rose himself. What does reinstatement mean for him? The commissioner worded his statement carefully. He didn't forgive. He didn't forget. He reminded us why Rose landed on that permanently ineligible list in the first place. He didn't say: 'I can't wait to see his plaque hang in the gallery someday.' Of course he didn't say that. The commissioner of baseball has many powers. Electing Hall of Famers isn't one of them. But … Suppose the members of some future Hall of Fame era committee come to the same conclusion that I did — that Major League Baseball just told us: Pete Rose has served his time. Now consider what that means. If he now has served his time, doesn't that mean Pete Rose is a Hall of Famer? If he has served his time, doesn't that mean: Just vote on what he did as a player? And if the question is simply, Was Pete Rose a Hall of Fame baseball player?, doesn't he have to get elected — assuming he ever reaches the ballot? How else could we possibly interpret this? What else does his reinstatement realistically accomplish? Advertisement Reinstatement no longer paves the way for Rose to work in baseball … nor to wave to the crowd at the next Big Red Machine reunion in Cincinnati … nor even to print business cards that say: 'Pete Rose, ambassador for baseball.' Nope. It's too late for that. Face it, there is only one practical impact of Rose's reinstatement: to make him eligible for the Hall of Fame. That. Is. It. Remember, that rule that kept him off the Hall ballot for all these years wasn't any old rule. It was a rule the Hall's board of directors passed just for him. There didn't used to be a rule saying that any player on baseball's permanently ineligible list couldn't appear on the ballot. That rule was passed months before Rose was about to debut on the ballot in 1991. So now guess which rule no longer applies. The Hall of Fame's chairman, Jane Forbes Clark, even issued a statement saying explicitly that Rose and the other players reinstated Tuesday are now officially eligible to be elected. That would seem to lay all the groundwork Rose would need to appear on the next Classic Baseball Era ballot. Which would lead us to that Sunday in August 2028, when his induction day will finally arrive … without him. Or not. We can't say, with 100 percent assurance, that this is how it will go, of course. There are lots of potential landmines. The historical overview committee, which determines the makeup of the ballots, might not be ready to include him right away — if ever. The outcome, inside the room where those era committees meet and vote, is never a foregone conclusion. Anything is possible. Everything is possible. But … For the first time since commissioner Bart Giamatti stood at that podium in New York City in the summer of 1989 and announced this suspension, I now believe Pete Rose will have a plaque in the Hall someday. Advertisement That's a powerful, sport-changing development unto itself. But why would we think that's the end of this story? Take a big step back and ask: If Rose is about to become a Hall of Famer, what are the other, even larger implications? Well, fasten your seatbelts and put your tray tables in the full upright and locked position. There just might be some turbulence. For years, it felt like if the all-time Hit King wasn't in the Hall of Fame, it was easier to justify the exclusion of the greatest players from the PED era. But if the landscape is about to change in Rose's case, how else might it be about to change? It has always seemed strange to have a Hall of Fame that didn't include the man who got the most hits in history, the man who hit the most home runs in history (Bonds), the pitcher who won the most Cy Young awards (Clemens), the guy who broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record (McGwire), etc. But if Rose eventually lands in the plaque gallery, doesn't it put all of those men in a different light? If we're going to overlook the many transgressions of the Hit King, the Hall might as well tell the story of modern baseball more completely, by clearing the path for that next group to get elected. Oh, that, too, is no sure thing. Rose's story isn't the same as anyone else's story. Those other men have all appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot — the baseball writers' ballot and the era committee ballot, in fact. They've all come up short with every set of voters. Rose, on the other hand, has never shown up on any ballot. His eligibility for the writers' ballot is over. But who knows how those veterans committees will treat him? Are they ready to stow all his baggage and clear his path to the land of the baseball legends? That's still an open question — especially the first time the moment arrives to consider his case. Advertisement But my feeling is that all the things we used to think just got overhauled by Manfred. With one fateful ruling, the commissioner is redefining how we should look at the greatest players of the modern era. So let's watch closely where the Pete Rose story goes from here — because there's a thundering herd ready to follow him right down that road … to beautiful Cooperstown, N.Y. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos: Larry Goren / Four Seam Images, Tony Tomsic, Matt York / Associated Press)
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why it'll take years for Pete Rose induction to Hall of Fame even if Rob Manfred lifts ban
Even if MLB commissioner Rob Manfred lifts baseball's permanent ban on Pete Rose today, it would take at least three years for the Hit King to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. That's because of the process, not eligibility. The Hall of Fame's separate exclusion of Rose is based on a 1991 rule enacted as Rose's would-be election year loomed – the Hall's board voting to formally make ineligible for the Hall anyone on MLB's permanently ineligible list. The Cincinnati native and Reds legend would gain immediate eligibility for the Hall of Fame if Manfred were to rule in the Rose family's favor on a recent petition to lift his 1989 ban for betting on baseball in the 1980s. More: This one's for the Hit King: How the Pete Rose tribute book came together But there would be no immediate ballot for him to be added. Because of the 1991 ruling, the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot never had the chance to vote for him, and it's too late now for that ballot. That means consideration through one of the three Era Committee ballots (or what used to be called the veteran's committee). As a Hall of Fame official shared via email: 'Voting rules require that candidates on the BBWAA ballot must have played in the Major Leagues no more than 15 years prior to each election. Since Rose's candidacy with the BBWAA has expired, if he were to be removed from MLB's permanently ineligible list, he would become eligible for consideration by the Hall of Fame's Era Committee process.' There are three Era Committee buckets of candidates, considered on a rotating basis annually: Classic Baseball Era (for those whose primary contributions to the game came before 1980, including Negro Leagues candidates) and two Contemporary Baseball Era committees (one for players whose primary contributions came in 1980 or later; and one for managers, executives and umpires whose for contributions came in 1980 or later). Rose, who was a Rookie of the Year in 1963 and MVP in 1973, would qualify for the Classic Baseball Era ballot, barring a reversal of precedent in assigning players to ballots (Rose played through 1986). Because that committee was the most recent to convene (electing Dave Parker and Dick Allen), it won't meet again until December 2027 to consider candidates for induction in the summer of 2028. It takes 12 of the 16 members of one of the Era Committees to list a candidate on his or her ballot for the candidate to be elected. So mark the calendar for the Cooperstown road trip: Aug. 6, 2028. All of which starts with Manfred's pending decision. The petition was filed Jan. 8. MLB officials say there is no firm timeline on announcing a ruling. 'If he's not in the Hall of Fame, there isn't one,' says Reds manager Terry Francona, the one-time Reds player and Rose teammate who's headed to Cooperstown one day as a manager. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Pete Rose path to Hall of Fame will take 3 years even if ban lifted
