Pete Rose Is Already In the Hall of Fame
Pete Rose Is Already In the Hall of Fame
An IBWAA contributor highlights that Rose does not need special exemption to be recognized in Cooperstown.
IBWAA members love to write about baseball. So much so, we've decided to create our own newsletter about it! Subscribe to Here's the Pitch to expand your love of baseball, discover new voices, and support independent writing. Original content six days a week, straight to your inbox and straight from the hearts of baseball fans.
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Notable Hall of Fame players have been “permanently” banned by the game at one time or another.
Ferguson Jenkins, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle were all banned by Bowie Kuhn. Jenkins was banned following a drug arrest in 1980, while Mays and Mantle were banned in the early 1980s due to jobs with casinos that were not related to betting. All three were reinstated.
Mays and Mantle were both previously elected to the Hall of Fame when they were banned, but Jenkins was reinstated, continued his career for multiple years, and was inducted into the Hall in 1991.
The final Hall of Fame player who received a ban was Roberto Alomar, who was deemed permanently ineligible in 2021 by Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame after an investigation found that he sexually harassed a Blue Jays employee in 2014, three years after he was elected into the Hall. He remains permanently ineligible.
Leading Off
Pete Rose Is Already In the Hall of Fame
By Mick Reinhard
Like leaves changing colors or birds migrating south, a sure sign of fall is the annual tradition of arguing whether Pete Rose belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Every year since being excluded from the 1991 ballot, we have been subjected to op-eds and think pieces arguing both sides of the case.
This year, however, began earlier than usual after Rose passed away on September 30. News of his death brought out every kind of obituary and remembrance of "The Hit King." There was plenty of talk of his on-field prowess, along with his demons and transgressions off of it. Rose's passing spurred even more discussion on the question asked for the last 30-plus years.
The New York Times newsletter highlighted the dilemma the weekend after his death as its Sunday debate. I'm sure it fed the news cycle for at least a day on First Take, Get Up, and all the other television shows of their ilk. It also gave sports radio something to fill up its 24/7 slots nationally and locally.
Perhaps it's a matter of semantics, but I'm here to tell you that everyone has it wrong.
Pete Rose is already in the Hall of Fame.
Visit Cooperstown, and you'll see for yourself.
If, as the guides suggest, the first stop on your visit is to watch the 16-minute welcome film Generations of the Game in the Grandstand Theater, you must walk through the Picturing America's Pastime photo gallery. In the middle of the room is a shot of Rose kneeling in the on-deck circle at Riverfront Stadium.
Stroll down the hallway to the Whole New Ballgame exhibit, exploring the last 50 years of the game. You will find Rose's No. 14 Cincinnati jersey from his 1973 MVP season, representing the Big Red Machine. Look next to it, and you will see a small aluminum can of Pete, a chocolate-flavored beverage from 1978 billed as "the drink that gives you hustle!"
Interactive video highlights on a wall let you select from famous moments throughout baseball history. In chronological order between Ernie Banks' 500th career home run and Brooks Robinson's defensive heroics in the 1970 World Series, Rose, in all of his glory, barrels over Ray Fosse in the All-Star Game.
The Hall has also embraced the controversy and notoriety of the question with a kiosk on the second floor specifically designed to elicit visitors' opinions on Rose as a player and man.
Head upstairs to the One for the Books exhibit highlighting baseball's records, and prepare for more Charlie Hustle memorabilia. First, we have the Montreal Expos' hat he wore when he played in his 3,309th career game, breaking the record previously held by Carl Yastrzemski.
Shift to your right, and there is a whole display for Rose, including a video of his 4,192nd hit, the spikes he wore that day, and the official scoresheet from the game. Keep moving, and you'll notice the R195 model Louisville Slugger he singled with on July 31, 1978, in the 44th and final game of his hitting streak, tying the National League mark. Turn around to find another piece of Rose's lumber, the bat used to notch hit number 3,000 behind glass.
Make your way through Shoebox Treasures, a celebration of baseball cards, and you can spot Rose in multiple places, like a bizarre version of Where's Waldo? There is he in the vest-style, sleeveless uniforms for the 1968 set or flashing his gap-toothed smile in giant photo cards from 1981 or next to Al Hrabosky and Ben Oglivie in a display of two-tone Topps cards from 1975.
The one place you won't find Rose is when you return to the first floor and end your visit in the Hall's centerpiece, the majestic oak-walled Plaque Gallery. His visage is not etched in bronze, hanging amongst the other greats. Nor may it ever be.
The curators make a concerted effort to include at least one piece of memorabilia from every inductee in the exhibits. It might be track medals won by Ross Youngs from grammar school, a tattered pair of spikes worn by Richie Ashburn, or the weathered leather glove of Senators' player-manager Bucky Harris from the 1924 World Series. But Rose, on baseball's permanently ineligible list, is better represented in the museum than everyone except Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron.
Pete Rose is already in the Hall of Fame.
Mick Reinhard has been covering the Harrisburg Senators, Washington’s Class AA minor league team, since 2010 in various forms including as the beat writer for the local newspaper for a season and as an independent blogger. He also covers high school sports and writes features as a freelance journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @Mayflies.
Extra Innings
One of the overlooked stories of 2024, especially in the wake of Pete Rose’s death at the end of the season, is that Major League Baseball placed an active player on the permanently ineligible list. Tucupita Marcano, who had 149 career major league games between the Padres and Pirates, was banned in June of this year after an investigation found that he had actively bet on baseball while a player, including bets on his own team when he was a member of the Pirates.
Marcano is playing winter ball in his native Venezuela, but he’ll likely have to find a home in the Mexican League or one of the foreign player spots in the NPB or Korea in order to continue his professional career beginning next season.