If being in baseball, and being in the Hall of Fame for his record for most lifetime hits, were that important to him, Rose would not have gambled them away.
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On Monday, MLB announced the 74-year-old’s lifetime ban would not be overturned.
“A Hall of Fame by design reflects achievements on the field, not character of behavior off the field”.
Rose had been much more prominent around MLB events, such as World Series and All-Star Games, over recent years, leading to chatter that the league was considering opening its doors to Rose on a larger scale.
He held a news conference Tuesday on an outside patio at his restaurant on The Strip, saying he was disappointed in commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision to uphold his ban for continuing to gamble and bet on games when he was playing for and managing the Cincinnati Reds.
“In my view, the considerations that should drive a decision on whether an individual should be allowed to work in Baseball are not the same as those that should drive a decision on Hall of Fame eligibility”, Manfred wrote. I’m a recreational gambler.
He can walk into Baseball’s Hall of Fame Museum as long as he lives, and, although he can see his memorabilia, he’ll never see his plaque. For Rose, the Hall of Fame remains a distant dream that hovers over his purgatory, which he continued after the news conference when he went to Mandalay Bay to perform his daily job of signing autographs. I’m in control of myself.
“There’s a reason why they do what they do and I’m not here to second guess what they do, but that don’t mean I can’t be disappointed that I didn’t get a reinstatement”, Rose said.
Those days are over, he said, though he still bets on sports and horse racing.
MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. told Rose verbally and in writing that his application to be reinstated from the Ineligible List had been denied.
“I’m a good guy, to be honest with you”, he said.
On multiple occasions, Rose admitted that he made mistakes by gambling on baseball. All I knew is, I was truthful to him, and he asked a lot of questions, and I had a lot of answers.
A University of Kansas researcher has discovered what is believed to be the only audio recording of basketball inventor James Naismith, during which he describes the first game he organized 124 years ago this month as a bit of a disaster. During the January 31, 1939, program, Naismith explained how he set up the game with two peach baskets at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass., in December 1891.
Rose, who also played for the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos (now Washington Nationals) during his 22-year career as a player, was banned from entering the hall at Cooperstown, New York, in 1989.
“I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing team’s peach basket”, he said.
It’s truly disheartening that the man who played in more games than anybody can’t be honored in the place where the games matter most.
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“We talked about that, but that assumes an elephant can fly”, Vincent said.
