The Major League Baseball All-Star Game is July 14th. It will be played at the Great American Ball Park located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Commissioner Rob Manfred will allow Pete Rose “Charlie Hustle” to participate in some of the events. Manfred said, “You can rest assured that he will be allowed to participate in some of the activities.”
Rose has also agreed to join Fox Sports as a guest analyst. Rose will be on the FOX pregame show. He will also appear on FOX Sports 1 shows: MLB Whiparound, America’s Pregame, and FOX Sports Live. Manfred doesn’t have a problem with Fox hiring him. According to ESPN, Manfred said, “Fox’s decision is their decision. It’s really not something that we have any contractual control over or that we ever had any input in.”
Rose is ineligible for the Hall of Fame after he was banned for life for betting on games as a manager, but Rose has applied to be reinstated. Manfred said, “We have gathered volumes, I mean literally volumes of documents, related to the original investigation. They’re in the process of organizing those, preparing summaries so that I can review those documents.” Is betting on baseball really worse than steroid use?
Pete Rose is the best hitter of all time. He owns the MLB record for hits with 4,256. His playing career lasted from 1963 to 1986. As far it is known, he never bet on baseball as a player. Rose was the Red’s manager from 1984 to 1989. As manager, he broke the baseball Rule 21 that says, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.” It’s believed that Rose never made a bet from the clubhouse or fixed games because of his bets. However, since he did bet on games when his team participated, he has been banned for life.
This is much different than steroid use in baseball. Steroids help an athlete recover from injury faster, build muscle, improve physique, and hit home runs further. There were players in the “steroid era” whose career lasted longer due to steroid use. Steroids weren’t tested for in baseball until 2003. There are plenty of baseball players in the Hall Of Fame who used steroids.
Steroids are a form of cheating. Pete Rose never cheated. All he did was break a rule of baseball. How is it that players who used PED’s prior to 2003 are in the Hall of Fame but baseball won’t reinstate Pete Rose who bet on baseball? It’s time for Manfred to reinstate Charlie Hustle into baseball. That way he can be voted into the Hall Of Fame.
Which is worse, betting on baseball or the use of steroids in baseball?
I am in favor of reinstating Pete. He did break the rule but he has paid the price.
Which is worse, betting on baseball or the use of steroids in baseball? They’re both bad. While I’ve heard of moral equivalency, might this be a question of immoral equivalency?