Should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame?

Yes!

Pete Rose did not, as you put it, just do "some awful things off the field." he did the ONE awful thing that would guarantee that he would be declared permanently ineligible. There is only one single rule that every single MLB player can break to warrant that particular punishment. And it is so important to the game that it is the only rule that is required to be posted in every single MLB clubhouse.

Babe Ruth may have been an alcoholic and a womanizer, but there is not any mention in the rule book about players not being allowed to drink, and there certainly is no rule about them sleeping around. Ty Cobb may have been the most hated man in baseball, and an incredible bigot, but again, there is no rule against either of those things.

There are only 3 facts that matter in the Rose case.

Fact #1. Pete Rose bet on major league baseball games in which he had a duty to perform.

Fact #2. Anyone who does so is declared permanently ineligible.

Fact #3. Players who are on the permanently ineligible list are not eligible for HOF induction.

Why is this so difficult to understand?

Is it that people don't understand that baseball was threatened in the early part of the 20th century by a series of unfortunate incidents involving gambling? (The Black Sox was just one of many cases of players in the majors and minors being accused of fixing games or attempting to do so.)

Is it that people would have no problem with managers today betting on games involving their team?

Is it that people feel that there are exceptions made to the rules if you have more than 4,000 hits? Or because you hustled? Or because you didn't take steroids?

Is it that people don't realize that Pete Rose the manager and Pete Rose the ballplayer are the same exact person? And it is that singular Pete Rose who was found to have violated the only rule that would put him in the position he is in today?

Sorry, but the stats don't matter one bit.

Yes, Pete Rose SHOULD be in the Hall of Fame.

And he would have been inducted on the first ballot if he had just been smart enough to find a different outlet for his gambling. He could have bet on horses, he could have bet on football, be could have gone to casinos on a regular basis. He could have even bet on other MLB games if he wanted to - that only carries a one year suspension, and would not have excluded him from the Hall of Fame.

Sorry, but baseball and the Hall of Fame are both much better off without Rose. Fans who saw him play will remember him, and the records he set will always be there (they may be broken some day, but the records are still kept). That's all the recognition he deserves.

Rose placed wagers on his own team's games, games in which he had a responsibility to perform. MLB's rules state, clearly, that such a contravention brings permanent ineligibility. And that's all of it.

It amazes me that many Rose apologists somehow think his responsibilities as field manager, and the compromising of those responsibilities by laying down (or, sometimes, not) money on his games, should be considered as "off the field" activities. Horserot; the manager can have more influence over a game than any one player. But I suppose any straws are worth grasping for when dedicated to a lost cause.

Pete Rose disgraced the name of baseball. Why should they honor him?

But then again, I'm being kind of a hypocrite because I think Bonds, Sosa, and A-Rod should be in the HOF.

So I'm not sure.

Somebody who SHOULD be in though is Shoeless Joe Jackson. He didn't take the money and he played the best out of both teams in the 1919 World Series.

Yes

Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. What he did never changed the outcome of a game that he played in. He said himself that he never bet against his own team. If anything that makes him work harder and steps his game up.

Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa directly changed the outcome of a game but injecting their bodies with steroids. I don't think there is any room for them in the Hall of Fame.

No....he should have admitted that he gambled on baseball at the start. The nation is one built on second chances, but I am one who feels the cover-up is often worse than the lie/crime. If Rose gets on the ballot, then the Black Sox should be on it....at least those guys beat the rap in court.

The way I see it, if he buys a ticket he can go in like anyone else. But only to look.

It's been almost 20 years since Rose was banned for life from Major League Baseball for allegedly betting on the game.

And it's still one of the most popular debates: Does Pete Rose deserve the Hall of Fame?

Well. Let's look at his case.

First of all, was he good enough of as a player?

It's pretty safe to say yes.

Major-league record 4,256 hits. Three batting titles. Three World Championship rings. 17 All-Star appearances at five different positions. A league MVP award, two Gold Gloves, and a style of play and hustle over a 24-year career unseen by any player who ever lived.

I don't think there's any logical way to deny that he wasn't good enough.

He fulfilled every kid's dream of becoming a pro athlete – Rose was a guy without a lot of natural talent who made his living by playing every day at whichever position he was needed. He was just 5-11, 200 pounds, but he was everything you could hope for, in the sense that Rose took advantage of the abilities he had and gave it his all.

He was a lock for 200 hits and a .300 average every season. And his teams normally won.

He was a guaranteed lock for the Hall, when he retired, fresh off his record-breaking 4,192nd hit to cap off a brilliant 24-year career. He took a job managing the Reds and was just a few short years away from enshrinement in Cooperstown with the best of the best in baseball.

And then disaster struck.

In 1989, allegations swept across the nation that Rose had bet on baseball.

Gambling, in the eyes of major league baseball, is a big no-no.

A six-month investigation ensued and concluded on Aug. 23, 1989, when Pete Rose accepted a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball commissioner Giamatti. With this ban went Rose's chances at the Hall.

The Hall of Fame and major league baseball are two separate organizations, but the Hall of Fame states that no one on major league baseball's ineligible list can be inducted into the Hall. It's just the way it works.

For this, Pete Rose is unable to be elected into the Hall of Fame.

Many people feel it is an outrage not to include baseball's all-time hit leader in the Hall of Fame. Ty Cobb is in the Hall of Fame and he once attacked a handicapped man in the stands. Mickey Mantle pretty much drank his life away.

Rickey Henderson was an arrogant, pompous, self-centered jerk. Babe Ruth, the greatest baseball player who ever lived, partied constantly and was certainly no role model for children.

Part of the qualifications for the Hall of Fame is “integrity and character.” If these guys can make the Hall of Fame, why can't Pete Rose??

Well, there's a difference between those other guys and Pete Rose. Those other guys—Cobb, Mantle, Henderson, Ruth—didn't break any actual rules.

There are no official major league baseball rules against beating up handicapped fans. Or drinking. Or being self-centered. Or partying, in Ruth's case. If these were rules, there might be a dozen people in the Hall of Fame. Probably not even that many.

There is, however, a rule against gambling.

Major League baseball states that “any player, umpire or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one (1) year.

Any player, umpire or club or league official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform shall be declared permanently ineligible."

According to this, Rose, who was said to have bet on his team as many as 50 times during the 1987 baseball season, was declared permanently ineligible. Rose has since applied for reinstatement twice (1997 and 2003)—both times were unsuccessful.

So should Pete Rose, the only living player on baseball's ineligible list, be allowed into the Hall of Fame? Well...He broke one of major league baseball's cardinal rules. Putting him in the Hall of Fame—rewarding him despite his gambling—would not send a good message.

But he is one of baseball's greatest players ever. It's been almost 20 years since Rose was banned. He was on the All-Century Team. He holds some of baseball's most impressive records. And perhaps no one has played the game with as much passion as Rose.

So does he deserve the Hall? It's tough to decide. Really tough. Part of me says yes and part of me says no. After all, who I am to decide whether Rose deserves Cooperstown or not? But if you really pressed me...

I would have to say yes.

It's not just as if Rose were a jerk or a drunk. He broke a rule, and a big one at that. The 'no-gambling' rule is posted in the clubhouse of every single team.

But there are other rules that guys have broken - and they aren't declared ineligible.

Major league

Yes. He was an amazing ball player.