By now every baseball fan on the planet is aware to Pete Rose, the single best hitter to ever play the game, passed away on Monday in Nevada at the age of 83.
Like him or not (and most Dodger fans did not because of that ‘single best hitter to ever play the game’ thing), he was not a cheater, unlike several others that we know of.
He did, however, break a well-established rule by betting on baseball, charges which he initially (adamantly) denied but eventually admitted to and for which he received a lifetime ban by then MLB commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989 – a ban which, to this day, has prevented Rose from enshrinement into the sacred Halls of Cooperstown.
“One of the game’s greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts.” Giamatti said of Rose upon issuing the ban. Ironically, Giamatti died two weeks after imposing the lifetime ban on the man affectionately known as “Charlie Hustle.”
(MLB)
What’s your take, Dodgers fans? Although he wouldn’t be around to enjoy baseball’s most prestigious honor, should Pete Rose be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum posthumously?
Fire away.
Play Ball!
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