by John Calhoun

Created on: October 11, 2009

Pete Rose had an unbelievable career as a player in Major League Baseball. As a manager, he made a mistake. There is no denying that, and nobody can try to defend what he did. You cannot bet on baseball, and he bet on baseball. It was a mistake, and it was the wrong thing to do. But he should not be kept out of the Hall of Fame for this mistake.

Look at the situation like this. If you consider the example of Bobby Cox, current manager of the Atlanta Braves, he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a manager. Yet his career as a player was not all that spectacular. He was not a very good player, but he is an elite manager. Well Pete Rose was not a very good manager, but he was an elite player. Pete Rose's situation is the opposite of that of Bobby Cox, but the situations are still similar. Each was either a bad player or a bad manager, but was good at the other.

Rose was an amazingly good player. He was a leader on his team and is one of the few players to ever accumulate 3,000 hits in his career. He is a legend among Reds fans. There is no denying that he is one of the best players to ever play the game. He did make a mistake, but that mistake should only tarnish his career as a manager. It should have no bearing on his career as a player.

Most of the players in the Hall of Fame have never attempted to become a manager. Pete Rose did become a manager. So despite his mistake, he still made more of a contribution to the game than most of the players in the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose had a tremendous impact on the game of baseball as a player.

As a manager, he made some mistakes that he clearly regrets. He broke the rules. But it is not like he is the only baseball player to ever break the rules. Just look at the players of today. There are so many players who have used steroids that there is no doubt some of them will go into the Hall of Fame. Using steroids is also breaking the rules. If the players of today who are breaking the rules can enter the Hall, then Rose should be inducted as well. There just needs to be some consistency in this argument.

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