Re: should pete rose make it into
Okay, okay, okay. Rose will never get in (to my dismay).
<br /><br />A little more research........<br /><br />In the ongoing debate about whether Pete Rose should be reinstated to baseball, some have suggested that Commissioner Bud Selig allow him on the Hall of Fame ballot but not back in an active role in the game itself.<br /><br />Forget it. In this case, the rules don't allow for a split decision.<br /><br />According to a rule approved by the board of directors of the Hall of Fame in February 1991, no person on baseball's permanently ineligible list can go on the ballot for election. Because that rule was enacted shortly after Rose's banishment for gambling by late commissioner Bart Giamatti, it was commonly known as The Pete Rose Rule.<br /><br />"Our board feels it would be incongruous for anyone on the ineligible list, who is not allowed in major-league ballparks, to be considered for baseball's highest honor, election to the Hall of Fame," said Jeff Idelson, vice president of communications and education for the Hall.<br /><br />"For anyone on the ineligible list to become eligible for election, he would have to be fully reinstated."<br /><br />Let it be known that Selig, by virtue of his office, is on the board of directors of the Hall of Fame. Accordingly, if he had any quarrel with that rule, he would have made it known to Hall officials by now.<br /><br />As long as that rule exists, Selig cannot separate Rose, the banished gambler, from Rose, the former superstar. Rose cannot be placed on the Hall of Fame ballot unless he is fully reinstated to baseball.<br /><br />According to Idelson, it was "an unwritten rule" for years that ineligible players were not allowed on the ballot. The Rose banishment made board members realize it was time to make it official, to avoid any questions over the all-time hits leader's eligibility.<br /><br />"You can interpret it any way you want," Idelson said of the timing of that rule's enactment. "Our board is comfortable with it."<br /><br />Though Rose didn't come clean publicly about his gambling on baseball until last week, primarily via release of his second autobiography, he claims he confessed to Selig at a meeting in the commissioner's office in Milwaukee in November 2002.<br /><br />In the time since, Selig has seen no reason to act on Rose's petition for reinstatement, which was made in 1997. And if people think Selig now will act in knee-jerk reaction to recent events, they are mistaken.<br /><br />Selig always has monitored the pulse of fans and media regarding sensitive baseball issues. In recent years, there appeared to be a groundswell of support for Rose's reinstatement.<br /><br />Due to the overwhelming negative response from media and fans alike over Rose's method of coming clean after 14 years of belligerent denials - not to mention suspicions of Rose's motives - Selig is not likely to reverse course and reinstate him at this juncture.<br /><br />Baseball's Rule 21 states that gambling on baseball results in a lifetime ban. The Hall of Fame's rules state that ineligible former players cannot be inducted in Cooperstown.<br /><br />Don't look for either Selig or the Hall to start bending the rules at this point.<br /><br />
