Yup. He thinks fans want it.
I discuss Rose at length in the book.
So, what happens if the Commissioner loses his mind and reinstates Rose?
He’s eligible to take jobs in baseball.
Rose argues he’d then be eligible to be on the next Hall of Fame ballot, that because he wasn’t on the ballot his eligibility doesn’t lapse. The rules seem… less on his side.
3. Eligible Candidates — Candidates to be eligible must meet the following requirements:
1. A baseball player must have been active as a player in the Major Leagues at some time during a period beginning twenty (20) years before and ending five (5) years prior to election.
So.. was he active as a player in the major leagues at some time between twenty years and five years prior to election?
Last played in 1986. Which is… whoops.
What else?
2. Player must have played in each of ten (10) Major League championship seasons, some part of which must have been within the period described in 3 (A).
Yup. Nice reference back to that rule.
3. Player shall have ceased to be an active player in the Major Leagues at least five (5) calendar years preceding the election but may be otherwise connected with baseball.
He’s clear there.
4. In case of the death of an active player or a player who has been retired for less than five (5) full years, a candidate who is otherwise eligible shall be eligible in the next regular election held at least six (6) months after the date of death or after the end of the five (5) year period, whichever occurs first.
Not applicable.
5. Any player on Baseball’s ineligible list shall not be an eligible candidate.
And finally, he’d be okay on this one.
The good news is that he’d be waiting for a Veteran’s Committee election.
The bad news is someone would almost certainly give him a job, and that would mean all kinds of noises about redemption, and new starts, condemnation and hair-rending and then, when he’s eligible, we go through it all again.
Fortunately, there’s no sign Selig might consider this latest push any more seriously than any other.
roku | 14-Mar-07 at 3:09 am | Permalink
Baseball’s intolerance toward gambling while allowing the drug problems to grow to the embarrassing size they are today is shameful in itself.
Josh | 15-Mar-07 at 3:57 am | Permalink
I really hope he never gets in. Not due to not liking him, or thinking what he did was terrible and ruined the game, or anything like that.
I would just hate the precedent of “These are the rules, go ahead and break them, if you are good enough we’ll go ahead and change them for you!”
If you asked me 5 years ago my opinion was different, but now I have no sympathy for him. The rules were clear, he knew the consequences, its time to live with them.
DMZ | 15-Mar-07 at 9:20 am | Permalink
There’s a huge difference between having some relatively small portion of players use drugs and having the essential integrity of the contest undermined.
Gambling threatens to snuff the game entirely. Steroids threatens the health of the players, but they’re still competing against each other, with the outcome uncertain.
pat monahan | 24-Apr-07 at 1:54 pm | Permalink
Steriods, corked bats, scuffed balls have a direct correlation to the results in the game. Gambling may or may not have an effect.
That is why I believe they are totally different animals and should be treated as such, with a harsher penalty on those that use steriods, corked bats or scuff the ball.
I can understand not allowing Rose an onfield job, but I don’t agree with a total ban from the game.
If the HOF is for the fans, which I believe it is; then I believe it’s the Reds fans or Rose fans from the 70’s that are being banned from the HOF.