In case you missed the announcement last night, Rob Manfred gave the Miami Marlins the All Star Game that they were snubbed from by Bud Selig. With the 2017 mid-summer classic headed to Marlins Park, Manfred quickly righted a previous wrong in baseball. The question now becomes, how long until he fixes the mistake that is the handling of Pete Rose?
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Nearly every career leader in a major statistical category is enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. With 3,000 hits being a seemingly unreachable plateau, there is a man who compiled exactly 4,256 of them over his 24 year career. Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose, is the owner of that number and he has yet to see his due.
Playing over the course of three decades and leading the majors in hits seven different times, there has arguably never been a better hitter in the game of baseball than Pete Rose. Now, still blackballed from the league that he was once a cornerstone in, he finds himself on the outside of the Hall of Fame looking in.
If there is one thing that Manfred should put at the top of his priority list, it doesn’t have to do with All Star Games or defensive shifts. He needs to reinstate Pete Rose into the game of baseball, and make sure the enshrinement takes place before he is no longer with us.
Sports Illustrated is reporting that Rose said he would love to talk to Manfred about reinstatement. In regards to the Hall, Rose said, “I just want to be on that writer’s ballot. Let the writers decide. If they want me in, I’m in. If they don’t feel I should be in, I can live with it. If I’ve never been on the ballot, my clock should start at zero. That will give them 10 years to decide, if they need it.”
That’s exactly where things should have been years ago, and the writers have so much to lose by not voting him into his worthy place. As discussion surrounding players using performance enhancing drugs and their Hall of Fame merit has raged on, Rose comes from a different cloth. Nothing Pete Rose did during his playing career had an outcome on any of his production.
Do I believe Barry Bonds deserves to be in the Hall of Fame? Of course I do, baseball turned a blind eye to steroids and Bonds was one of the greatest ever regardless. Despite my feelings, that point can be argued. Do I believe Pete Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame? Of course I do, and there is no argument for that.
If Rob Manfred wants to make a bold move in his tenure as Commissioner, it isn’t about pace of play and defensive shifts. Do the right thing, and get Pete Rose into the Hall.
Next: Baseball Gets Stained On Hall Of Fame Day
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