By
Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
Many
of you know the saga of Pete Rose and his attempts to get back into baseball
and/or into the Hall of Fame. These, of
course, should be totally separate issues.
But now a ruling by the Hall of Fame’s board of directors (curiously
voted on in December 2016 and only announced this past week) has upheld the absurd
rule (known by many as the “Pete Rose Rule”) to keep Rose out of the Hall of
Fame.
PETE
ROSE, HALL OF FAMER
Say
what you want about Pete Rose, but nobody questions that his on-field abilities
should have given him a first ballot vote for Hall of Fame induction. All-time hit leader, Charlie Hustle, multiple
World Series winner, etc., etc., etc.
But
a funny thing happened on the way to the Hall of Fame. It was shown that Rose, as a manager, had bet
on his team to win (not to lose, a big difference for right-minded
people). In any event, on August 24,
1989, came the announcement/press conference that Pete Rose had agreed to a
lifetime ban from baseball.
Since
Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 Black Sox scandal had been on the Hall of Fame
ballot and even received some votes over the years, there didn’t seem to be any
question that, in 1991, after his five-year post-retirement waiting period,
Rose would at least have a chance to be voted into the Hall of Fame.
BART
GIAMATTI DOES NOT WANT ROSE TO BE BANNED FROM POSSIBLE INDUCTION INTO THE HALL
OF FAME
Author
Kostya Kennedy, in his fine book, “Pete Rose, An American Dilemma,” recounts
what then-Commissioner Giamatti said on the day that Pete Rose was banned for
life:
“When asked at the press conference
announcing Rose’s ban from baseball whether the expulsion would have bearing on
the Hall of Fame, Giamatti had dismissed
the idea, saying he saw no place for intervention:
‘YOU,’ he said, addressing the BASEBALL
WRITERS in attendance, ‘WILL DECIDE WHETHER HE BELONGS IN THE HALL OF FAME.’ “
(p.
229, footnote 1) (emphasis supplied)
How
this statement of Bart Giamatti’s view on Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame has
somehow escaped Fay Vincent, Bud Selig and many others is hard to imagine.
BART
GIAMATTI DIES ON SEPTEMBER 1,1989
Unfortunately
for Commissioner Giamatti (and, as it turned out, for Pete Rose as well – to a
much lesser degree, of course), Bart Giamatti died of a massive heart attack in
Martha’s Vineyard on September 1, 1989.
According to the Kennedy book, the 51-year-old Giamatti had been
“overweight and a chain smoker and unhealthy in many ways.” Indeed, according to Kennedy, Giamatti’s “doctors
were not entirely shocked by his fate; an autopsy suggested that Giamatti had
suffered a separate, minor heart attack as well.” (p. 214).
In
addition, Kennedy points out that Giamatti’s death gave those in charge of
Rose’s fate (Fay Vincent and, later, Bud Selig) “another reason that it has
been so difficult to ever forgive Pete Rose.”
SO,
WHAT HAPPENED?
Pete
Rose was still on track (no gambling pun intended) to become a Hall of Famer
(or at least to be voted on by the writers, as Bart Giamatti had wanted) in
1991, five years after he had retired from playing in 1986.
But
the powers-that-be decided in 1991, before there could be an actual Pete Rose Hall
of Fame vote, that they would meet in what was described as a “sham” by one
baseball writer involved and pass a rule that would ban Pete Rose and all
others on the permanently ineligible list from even being considered for the
Hall of Fame.
Kennedy
goes into excellent detail about the meeting in New York City on January 10,
1991 and what a joke it was. According
to Kennedy, eight of the ten men present were there to specifically stop Pete
Rose from getting into the Hall of Fame later that year.
It’s
a compelling read (pp.227-231) with the highlights (lowlights?) being that
there were two members of the Baseball Writers Association there, executive
secretary Jack Lang and past president Phil Pepe.
According
to Lang, the committee process (on the new rule) “was a sham, from start to
finish.” Former American League
President Lee McPhail brought up the motion to ban all players on the
ineligible list because he was “very concerned” that Rose might be inducted
into the Hall of Fame (again, either unaware of what Bart Giamatti wanted or,
worse, unconcerned about it).
According
to the Kennedy book, Lang and Pepe, the two baseball writers (and Hall of Fame
voters), “protested strongly but to no avail.” The original vote was 7-2 (only
the two baseball writers voted against the rule) with the Hall of Fame’s
president, Ed Stack, eventually joining the minority to make it 7-3. According to Pepe, that was for show: “If it
had been 5-4 when it came to Ed there is no way he would have voted to even it
up. It was a calculated vote, for show.”
And,
believe it or not, that’s how Pete Rose was banned from the Hall of Fame (less
than a month later, the full Hall of Fame board of directors passed the rule). Forget what Bart Giamatti had said; these
guys just ignored his desire to have the baseball writers vote on Rose and
steamrolled a rule through to shaft Pete Rose.
And,
to this day, it has worked.
FLASH
FORWARD TO THE LAST FEW YEARS
Pete
Rose wrote to now-commissioner Rob Manfred who had a different take on the Rose
Hall of Fame situation: he punted it to the Hall of Fame. Manfred, in late 2015, denied Rose’s request
to get back into baseball but avoided the Hall of Fame controversy: “It is not
part of my authority or responsibility here to make any determination
concerning Mr. Rose’s eligibility as a candidate for election to the National
Baseball Hall of Fame.”
Maybe
Manfred read the Kennedy book. Maybe he
was/is aware of the obvious preference of Bart Giamatti, considered a great man
by all of his successors as commissioner, to allow the writers to vote on
whether Rose should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
But
it would have been nice (and fair) if Manfred had simply stated (given Giamatti’s
view), that the writers should decide Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame status because
that’s what then-Commissioner Giamatti stated at the time and, therefore, Rose
could now be voted on by the writers.
Ask
Manfred and he would probably say now, as he did then, that it’s not part of
his authority/responsibility to do that.
But who stands up for what Bart Giamatti wanted if not the commissioner
of baseball?
Very
sad. And very wrong.
SO,
WHAT DID THE HALL OF FAME DO?
In
September 2016, Pete Rose’s attorneys sent a letter to the Hall of Fame asking
that the Hall of Fame voters (still the baseball writers) be allowed to
consider Rose.
Apparently,
in December (by conference call, no less), the Hall of Fame board of directors
met and “deliberated” the “validity” of Rule 3(E) (the “Pete Rose Rule) that
was rammed through in that New York City hotel room under a “sham” process in
1991.
Not
surprisingly, according to the Hall’s statement, “[a]fter extensive discussion,
a vote was taken in which the Board ratified” the Pete Rose Rule. There was no disclosure as to the actual vote
(it would be nice to know if anyone had the guts to vote against Rule 3(E)).
There
was also no discussion about whether any member is even aware that it was Bart
Giamatti’s wish that the baseball writers, not future commissioners, not future
Hall of Fame board of director members, vote specifically on Pete Rose for the
Hall of Fame.
CONCLUSION
Pete
Rose is now 76-years-old. He has been
banned from baseball for almost 28 years.
Clearly, Bart Giamatti wanted him
banned for life from being on a baseball field in any capacity until he, at
least, “reconfigured his life.” You can
debate that all you want – but let’s say he hasn’t “reconfigured his life.”
Make
no mistake: the “reconfigure your life” test had NOTHING TO DO with Pete Rose
getting into the Hall of Fame. In
Giamatti’s own words, on the day Rose was banned for life, “you [the baseball
writers] will decide whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame.”
So
Fay Vincent, Bud Selig, Rob Manfred, Jeff Idelson and all of the members of the
Hall of Fame board of directors at the December 2016 meeting (by conference
call) have ignored (or are unaware of) the specific statement of Bart Giamatti.
That
should be corrected immediately and Rose should be put on the Hall of Fame
ballot.
Of
course, don’t hold your breath waiting for the right thing to happen.
©
2017 BY STEVE KALLAS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
