Pete Rose always comes to mind when considering the Hall of Fame. After all, he's the all-time career hits leader. I think it's safe to say that record will never be surpassed. Even if someone could match or outdo his stats over several years, players make too much money these days, so they neither need nor want to stick around as long as it would take to get anywhere near that record. It will never happen again.
Rose got a lifetime ban for betting on baseball, so he's ineligible for the Hall of Fame. Turns out, he was betting on his own team to win, and yours truly sees no harm in that, but the "purists" adamantly maintain he was nonetheless betting, so he's been relegated to purgatory. Every year we'll hear some sports columnists get on their high horse and rail against Rose for the ultimate sin, in their eyes. Yet, those are likely the very same people who closely monitor the Las Vegas betting "line" in their own papers, buy football squares at the office or their local watering hole, fill out multiple brackets for the NCAA hoops tournament, play fantasy football, grab a few lottery tickets every time they're in a party store, and take their spouses or significant others to a casino for a good time. But dammit -- Rose was not supposed to gamble. Can you spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e?
Will Rose eventually be enshrined in Cooperstown? Of course. It's a shame he might not be alive to see it, because the purists will rant and rave until their, or his, dying breath, but it will happen, because it has to. The all-time career hits leader not being in the Hall? Are you kidding me? There's a huge difference between betting on your own team to win and....
Shoeless Joe Jackson (and others), of 1919 Black Sox notoriety, allegedly throwing a World Series. He was given a lifetime ban as well, which remains in effect to this day. Indeed, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Chicago White Sox 5 games to 3. For some reason, likely to generate more money, in 1919, along with the years 1903, 1920, and 1921, the World Series was a best of 9, instead of the usual best of 7. Jackson was vilified then, and most still think of him as a scoundrel today.
But a closer look at what really happened shows otherwise. In 1919, the Cincinnati Reds had a regular season record of 96-44. The White Sox had gone 88-52. On paper, the Reds were the better team anyway, so winning the World Series 5 games to 3 shouldn't have come as a great surprise. It wasn't like the Sox rolled over and got steam rolled. At that, Shoeless Joe went 12 for 32, a .375 average, with 5 runs scored, 3 doubles, 1 home run, and 6 RBIs. Do those sound like the sort of numbers a guy would put up in a World Series if he was trying to lose? I don't think so. (For that matter, there WAS no baseball commissioner in 1919. Kenesaw Mountain Landis didn't become Commissioner until 1921. Jackson played another full season before Landis handed him his lifetime ban. Does something seem not quite kosher with that?)
Neither did somebody else back then. The whole mess eventually found its way into court. After hearing all the testimony from various players, other people that were present, and considering all the evidence, or lack thereof, a judge totally absolved Jackson of any wrong doing. Shoeless Joe maintained his innocence until the day he died in 1951. 13 years with a lifetime batting average of .356, a career cut short because of being wrongfully accused, then acquitted, and almost a century later he still remains banned. I don't understand how even the purest of purists can defend that stance, but it's real.
How good was Jackson? Here's a quote from someone yours truly would consider to be fairly knowledgeable about such things.
"I copied Shoeless Joe Jackson's style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen. The greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He's the guy who made me a hitter". Babe Ruth.
Good grief. In the days before most major league baseball players became millionaires, in 1979 former Commish Bowie Kuhn handed down lifetime bans to Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays because they dared to make a few bucks off "appearance fees" by playing golf with people a couple of casinos in Atlantic City were trying to impress. No mob connections, nor were the Mick and the Say Hey Kid ever even remotely associated with any actual betting (they didn't even HAVE a sports book in Atlantic City in those days), but baseball's seemingly irrational gambling phobia was still alive and well. It wasn't until after Kuhn died, and new Commish Peter Ueberroth took over, that he saw the wisdom is lifting those ridiculous bans.
These days, players routinely go to casinos for entertainment in the off season. To boot, if you've got enough money and a really good travel agent, you can probably have it arranged to sit down with one or more of them at a gambling event on a island somewhere between Florida and South America. It happens. Some of them are already enshrined, and others likely will be some day.
But Pete Rose is still banned because he made some bets on his team to win. And how about Shoeless Joe finally truly resting in peace? He got the justice, but nobody noticed. When will he get the recognition, and the plaque, that he so much deserves?
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