Charlie Hustle
Speaking of preserving the history, how many of you would argue that the Baseball Hall of Fame is accurately doing so without acknowledging the MLB’s all-time hits leader?
Like Bonds, Pete Rose is a record-holder who remains removed from Cooperstown. Unlike Bonds, Rose’s name has never appeared on the voting ballot.
Like Bonds, Pete Rose violated an MLB rule. Unlike Bonds, Rose broke a rule without giving himself or his team any true advantage.
For those unfamiliar with Rose’s story, he remains the MLB’s all-time hits leader at 4,256 in his career. In 1989, he was banned from baseball by Commissioner Bart Giamatti for allegedly betting on baseball games.
One thing that Rose-haters like to hide is that he never bet on his team to lose. This is a major difference from the 1919 Black Sox scandal, when the Chicago White Sox fixed the World Series and intentionally lost to the Cincinnati Reds.
Even though Pete Rose is undoubtedly a central piece of our pastime’s history, the Hall of Fame has a policy stating that nobody who bets on baseball can be elected.