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SI writers mixed on Rose reinstatement
Posted: Thursday December 12, 2002 6:15 PM
The possibililty of an end to Pete Rose's lifetime ban from baseball is the buzz of the sports world. CNNSI.com asked a select group of SI writers for their take on the situation and whether Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. Here are their responses:
| Stephen Cannella, baseball writer, ARCHIVE | | Do I think he should be in the Hall? No -- mainly because this is a punishment that Pete agreed to 13 years ago. Baseball didn't press its case against him when it had the chance to get him in further hot water because he agreed to this ban. So it seems to me that Pete wants to have his cake and eat it too. I know there's a lot of fan support for reinstatement, and he gets huge ovations whenever he does a public appearance on a major league field. I think that's more because the public has a short memory and because he has done a good job of promoting himself as a martyr in the baseball world. People love an underdog. But if baseball wants any of its punishments in the future to have any teeth, it has to hold strong on this one. Plenty of other players have been banned -- Shoeless Joe for, example --who probably have better cases to be reinstated than Rose does and they're certainly not close to getting in the Hall of Fame. |
| Frank Deford, senior contributing writer, ARCHIVE | | Pete Rose should indisputably be in the Hall of Fame. The honor is for players, not for saints. Anyway, what Rose did -- and it's absolutely clear that he bet on games and then lied about it, let's not forget about that -- happened after his playing career was over. He's being unfairly punished. |
| Rick Reilly, senior writer, ARCHIVE | | Of course I think Pete Rose bet on baseball ... and of course I think he should be in the Hall of Fame. The day he goes in, he will rank as about the 27th worst guy enshrined in Cooperstown. He already served 13 years and this was not a lifetime sentence. If he admits he bet on baseball, and never against the Reds, then he should be in. |
| Phil Taylor, senior writer, ARCHIVE | | I think Rose should be both reinstated and voted into the Hall of Fame. He's like anyone who has committed a crime and done his time. He has been humiliated over the last few years by not being able to take part in Major League Baseball functions. Even if he doesn't admit that he betted on baseball, I say that Rose has been punished severely, and I think it's time to let him back in. I don't think any purpose is being served by keeping him out of baseball or out of the Hall of Fame any longer. |
| Tom Verducci, senior baseball writer, ARCHIVE | | If Major League baseball reinstates him, I would definitely vote for him to get in the Hall of Fame. But I don't think Major League Baseball should reinstate him. Nothing has changed. This guy violated the most sacred rule in baseball. And that rule -- and its penalty -- is posted in every clubhouse in baseball. To me it's a rule that doesn't bend. I'm very surprised that Bud Selig is going to reconsider what's supposed to be a lifetime ban. |
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