Five reasons to lift Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame ban
By John Buhler
Pete Rose remains on the outside looking in at the National Baseball Hall of Fame for betting on the game, but should he be?
Earlier this week, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred decided to uphold former Cincinnati Reds‘ star Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from the game of baseball, stating that Rose’s past and continued gambling on the sport hurts the integrity of the game.
The biggest issue that has stemmed from the lifetime ban over the last 25 plus years is that Rose remains permanently ineligible of enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame despite being one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game of baseball.
Rose’s ban along with the long deceased Shoeless Joe Jackson’s are two of the biggest black eyes on the National Baseball Hall of Fame. If it weren’t for betting on the game of baseball, both Rose and Jackson would have had plaques in Cooperstown decades ago.
Rose will turn 75 years old this upcoming baseball season and the likelihood that he will stand at the podium of his own induction ceremony evaporated almost completely with Manfred’s decision to uphold the lifetime ban on Monday. Here are five reasons why commissioner Manfred should overturn Bart Giamatti’s going on 26 year ban from baseball and put Rose in the Hall of Fame.
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