Five reasons to lift Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame ban
By John Buhler
No. 4 Baseball Needs More Controversy
Whether or not the MLB wants to admit it, they are rapidly losing a generation of young fans who gravitate more towards football, basketball, and even soccer. The fallout of the Steroid Era wasn’t kind to the national growth of baseball for millenials and Generation X still has holdouts from the 1994 MLB Strike that cost America the 1994 World Series.
So how does lifting Pete Rose’s ban effect a younger crowd of otherwise disinterested baseball fans? By letting Rose in the Hall of Fame after a 25-year ban from baseball, the national media will make this a bigger deal that DeflateGate or any recent controversy in sports.
Baseball could use a little more controversy. By letting in a Hall of Fame worthy player who made costly gambling mistakes in his 40s could saturate the sports media and kids may have no choice but to start paying attention to baseball again.
America’s youth will see the dynamic way Rose played the game and may want to pick up a bat or a glove instead of a stick or a pair of high-priced athletic shoes. Baseball purists would lose their mind over Rose’s lifted ban while others more lenient on the punishment would figure that it is about time for Rose’s inclusion in Cooperstown. Meanwhile, the youth of America will have no choice but to listen to the media firestorm and the game may improve in the process due to Rose’s controversial induction.
Next: No. 5: The Man Baseball Needs to Handle The Asterisk