Reply #22: Don't get me started on Bart Giamatti!

[LynneSin]

Although his kid did turn out to be pretty good actor I am no fan of his either.

I think the Pete Rose situation was handled horribly and I'm still pissed the greatest hitter in baseball EVER is not in the Hall of Fame. Yes, I realize that Rose gambled on baseball but he never did it as a player but as a manager. When the lifetime bans were handed out back in 1919 let's face it - there really wasn't a whole lot of bad things you could do with baseball other than gamble on it. And yet today, with all the corruption that can be found in baseball, gambling was still treated like the worst thing ever that could give you a lifetime ban.

Personally I think steroids has had a greater impact on the game of baseball than anything Pete Rose ever did to fix a game. Players that played the game without the use of steroids didn't stand a chance against those who abused them and broke records like Hank Aaron's homerun record (and for the record - today I still think Hank Aaron is the all-time home run champ because Hank did it with his own talent and not with any steroid enhancements).

You want to ban Rose from ever managing a team again fine, but let the guy in the Hall of Fame. He earned it with all those hits that he got without use of steroids!


Here's the lowdown on what happened:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_Scandals#1980s_Pete_Rose_betting_scandal

Rose, facing a very harsh punishment, along with his attorney and agent, Reuven Katz, decided to seek a compromise with Major League Baseball. On August 24, 1989, Rose agreed to a voluntary lifetime ban from baseball. The agreement had three key provisions:

1.Major League Baseball would make no finding of fact regarding gambling allegations and cease their investigation;
2.Pete Rose was neither admitting or denying the charges; and
3.Pete Rose could apply for reinstatement after one year.
To Rose's chagrin, however, Giamatti immediately stated publicly that he felt that Pete Rose bet on baseball games. Then, in a stunning follow-up event, Giamatti, a heavy smoker for many years, suffered a fatal heart attack just eight days later, on September 1.

The consensus among baseball experts is that the death of Giamatti and the ascension of Fay Vincent, a great admirer of Giamatti, was the worst thing that could happen to Pete Rose's hopes of reinstatement.