Big 3 Sports

I grew up loving Pete Rose.  He was pretty much untouchable as my biggest childhood hero until I sat down to watch some guy drop 63 points in the Garden against Larry and the Celtics in 1986 (I was 11).  The man was ridiculous with a 32 oz baseball bat and besides that, before his betting problems dragged him down, he was a very good manager (aside from playing himself a little too much at first base late in his career).  I’m not going to waste time with an ode to Pete and why he is unquestionably a hall of famer and without the gambling issue would have had among the highest vote totals of anyone on a first-year ballot.  What I am going to say is that one of my other favorite players – Mark McGwire (I grew up in Sacramento and loved anything in green and gold) – has officially ruined it for Rose.

For the last 20 years every December/January belonged to Pete Rose.  Every year there were countless articles on why or why not and in every article he was commended as among the greatest players of all time.  This outcast role made him a superhero in a way that a first-ballot HOF vote never could.  Robin Yount and George Brett were first-ballot guys, when was the last time someone mentioned them this time of year?  Pete Rose has become infinitely more famous without the Hall as his story has been regurgitated to each new generation of baseball fans.  Ask your 8-year old who Tony Perez is and see the confusion, but ask him who Pete Rose is and he’ll reel of a Wikipedia article.

Now the steroid era has come to Cooperstown (a wonderful town by the way, with or without the Hall).  All the articles, in cyberspace or in magazines, have been devoted to Mark McGwire, the same player who retired from baseball being considered among the top 5 first basemen of all time.  Since then he has done nothing wrong, nor has he even been officially accused of any wrong doing.  Sure he doesn’t want to talk about the past and has lived in hiding, but why?  He played by the rules of baseball at the time he was in the league.  He may have taken steroids, but who knows for sure who hasn’t.  I’ve become increasingly more skeptical of longevity as a steroid/HGH indicator because of the possibility for faster recovery, etc.  There have been a lot of guys, pitchers in particular, who’ve been playing this game at a very high level for a very long time.  How does the argument go when Roger Clemens (who’s name’s come up in rumors), Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and others come to the ballot?

There are no sure HOFers on the 2008 ballot.  The new names are Shawon Dunston, Travis Fryman, David Justice, Mike Morgan, Tim Raines and Randy Velarde of which only Raines has a snowball’s chance in hell.  That usually means one of the guys on the waiting list finally gets his call, a la Bruce Sutter, and it looks like that person might be Goose Gossage and Jim Rice may slide in.  In 2009, Rickey Henderson shows up. But hopefully before the next wave of “sure HOFers” get to the door we have some clarity on how to deal with steroids, or at least more information on who did and didn’t if that is going to be a basis for HOF evaluation given that it wasn’t against the rules.

My point is simple.  Pete’s 20 years in the spotlight are done.  He might as well be reinstated, slide in the back door to Cooperstown and be forgotten forever.  Now your 2-year old will probably never hear of Pete Rose, but will know plenty about Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa.  By the way, if those guys are going to be shut out, I hope that list gets longer and other users don’t slide in because they didn’t hit 500 HRs.