(Long Blog Disclaimer.
If you don’t like words, turn back now.)
Well Pete Rose passed away yesterday, at the age of 83.
And Klemmer did an amazing job paying tribute to him.
Something I felt was indeed deserved (obviously), but a day late and dollar short.
The poor guy died a slow and painful death.
(More on this after my Pete Rose point.)
Pete Rose’s recent passing has reignited the debate surrounding his Hall of Fame eligibility.
While his on-field achievements are undeniable, his lifetime ban for gambling on baseball remains a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
I’ll going to be frank:
the Hall of Fame is not a shrine to saints.
This self-appointed role as guardians of baseball’s purity reeks of hypocrisy.
And whose idea was it to bestow this power upon them in the first place?
It would be one thing had they played the game they wield such power over.
My dad and I were discussing Rose and his unjust punishment last night.
He sent mea great article from an Op-Ed that ran in the NY Times way back in 2019.
He classified it as follows:
The rules of a profession or an institution are not like traffic regulations.
They are deeply woven into the identity of the people who practice them.
Her social function defines who she is.
The connection is more like a covenant.
There will be many long periods when you put more into your institutions than you get out.
That was Pete Rose.
Baseball was his life.
Pete Rose was baseball.
I think you might say the same for very few people in this world.
But they all have one thing in common, and that is a different level ofgreatness.Michael Jordan.
In 2005, Ryne Sandberg was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.
Its disrespectful to them, to you and to the game of baseball that we all played growing up.
A lot of people say this honor validates my career, but I didnt work hard for validation.
I didnt play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel.
I played it right because thats what youre supposed to do, play it right and with respect … .
As a fan, Rose embodied what we all want out of our pro-athletes.
Its a little bit like the whole problem of drinking and smoking.
Do I think he belongs in the Hall of Fame?
I think there should be a moral dimension to honors.
I dont think thats a good thing.
What the fuck are we even talking about here?
Baseball needs to move past this self-imposed moral high ground.
It robs him of the recognition he deserves and prevents him from sharing his passion and knowledge with fans.
Well, currently it’s not even a possibility.
I think that most people in this world are good.
Hoping that at the end of the day they remind themselves that he was simply human.
Flawed just like you and I.
And I hope he gets in.
Even if he’s not around to see it happen.
Which brings me back to my point about Toby Keith, and the blog title.
Why do we wait until people die to honor and celebrate them?
I guess it’s great for their families, but why else?
It’s pretty selfish when you think about it.
Can you imagine what an incredible way that would have been for him to go out?
Like Jason Aldean did at the ACM Awards this summer.
And it would also be a way for us the fans to also say “thank you!”
Can you imagine if he’d been alive to experience this?
Something I wrote about at length here.
If I felt it I can’t even imagine what Tom Brady himself felt.
The world is full of bad news.
A lot of lows.
A LOT of lows.
We should do a better job of making a bigger deal out of the highs.
This makes it even more sad.
