DHL Dan CCLIII - Reinstatement

Shank weighs in on the bullshit decision of the current MLB commissioner to undo a determination by another commissioner:

Reinstatement of Pete Rose, others has this Hall of Fame voter wondering why worry about ‘character,’ and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while welcoming Chris Sale back to Fenway . . . and Alex Verdugo, too . . .

⋅ The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball was established in 1920 in the aftermath of discovery that eight members of the Chicago White Sox had taken gamblers’ money in exchange for throwing the 1919 World Series. There was concern that betting would kill the game. In 1921, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was installed as the first commissioner, hired to clean up the sport forever.

One of Landis’s first acts was to banish the White Sox players from the game, making it clear that betting on baseball was something you could not do if you intended to be part of the sport. It was a permanent banishment.

On Tuesday of this past week, commissioner Rob Manfred, at the request of President Trump, made a mockery of the office, reinstating known gambling violators Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and 15 others deceased individuals. Buffered with soft semantics (“permanent ineligibility” ends when you die), Manfred’s message to uniformed baseball personnel seems to be: Don’t worry too much about that rule you were always told was so sacred. It may not happen until after your death, but if you gamble on baseball you will eventually be reinstated by MLB. The commissioner will leave it up to others to decide if you are Hall of Fame worthy.

That's 100 percent right - character is supposed to matter for Hall of Fame eligibility and with respect to gambling on games youre involved with (either for or against your team), they broke written or moral rules, as the 1919 White Sox did. The moral rule, of course, is this - if you tank games and take money to do it, you're a piece of shit and have fully earned your banishment.

DHL Dan CCLII - Dark Day Ahead?

That's what the son of a former MLB commissioner thinks about the possibility of Pete Rose's posthumous reinstatement to baseball:

Son of commissioner who banned Pete Rose says reinstatement would be ‘a dark day for baseball,’ and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while waiting for the NFL schedule to come out on Wednesday . . .

▪ Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred met with President Trump last month regarding a petition to have Pete Rose posthumously removed from MLB’s permanently ineligible list. Manfred is expected to issue a ruling soon.

If the commissioner reinstates baseball’s all-time hits leader, Rose would be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration in future voting by a 16-member Classic Baseball Era committee.

Pete Rose’s daughter, Fawn, is among those who’ve met with Manfred to lobby for her father’s reinstatement.

Marcus Giamatti, the son of late baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti — who in 1989 famously struck the deal with Rose after MLB confirmed his baseball gambling while managing and playing for the Reds — does not want to see Rose reinstated.

DHL Dan CCXLIV - Pete Rose In The Hall Of Fame?

In this week's (or last week's, based on the delay in posting) Picked Up Pieces column, Shank talks about the possibilities:

Has a post from President Trump given Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame candidacy new life? And other thoughts.

Pete Rose.

Hall of Fame.

Here we go again.

I thought this topic was dead, but now that Pete has died, his ever-controversial Hall of Fame candidacy has new life, thanks to the President of the United States and Major League Baseball’s commissioner.

Everyone agrees that Rose was a Hall of Fame ballplayer. He compiled 4,256 hits, more than anybody. He was National League MVP, a three-time World Series champ, and started All-Star Games at five positions.

However, as most of you know, baseball has a specific character clause regarding Hall of Fame credentials. Some cheaters, criminals, and ne’er-do-wells have been denied Cooperstown or delayed entry for a variety of transgressions, on and off the field.

Pro football’s Hall largely doesn’t care about this kind of thing. The late O.J. Simpson is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Pete Rose Column

Baseball legend Pete Rose passed away earlier this week, and Shank has a ton of small stories to tell about him:

Pete Rose was crude and rough around the edges, but his love for baseball was evident every game

Pete Rose, who died Monday in Nevada at the age of 83, loved baseball and compiled more major league hits (4,256) than anyone else who ever played. Unfortunately, his apparent addiction to gambling blew up his career and kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Rose was crude. Rough around the edges. And he noticed everything.

“I remember in 1982 when I first did the ‘Game of the Week,’ ” Bob Costas said Monday night. “I was set up on the field before the game and Pete was playing catch down the third base line and he looked at me and said, ‘I’ve seen you. You do those Big Ten football games.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Why would Pete Rose know me?’

“Years later, I figured it out. It wasn’t like he was following my career. It was the betting. He bet on everything.”

Definitely worth a read.