Why does Pete Rose not have a Hall of Fame membership?
Laughing is the only appropriate reaction to Pete Rose’s request for Major League Baseball’s reinstatement. As he had done with former commissioners Bud Selig and Fay Vincent, he posed the same written query to Rob Manfred this time. Selig put off making a decision on the topic, so it’s certain that neither of the previous two commissioners found in his favor, but Rose must have reasoned that there couldn’t be any damage in giving the new boss a try. especially considering that some of his other baseball-related views are already quite controversial.
Of course, Rose has every right to inquire. However, the response ought to be a resounding “no.”Pet Rose was given a lifetime suspension from baseball, and that ban should stand. The infamous Rule 21(d)—a clause in MLB’s codified rules on sports gambling that states that anyone who wagers on a game in which, in the words of the rule, “the bettor has a duty to perform”—remains the only major league bylaw that allows for a lifetime ban after one strike for a valid reason. The regulation is prominently displayed in each clubhouse around the county for a reason. The rationale behind this is that betting on a result is incompatible with a fair procedure. Professional sports leagues are destroyed by sports betting scandals.
This is evident from other sports as well; the Taiwanese professional baseball league, the CPBL, is still getting over players from the Brother Elephants, the nation’s most popular team, being implicated in a 2009 investigation into a game-fixing ring. The Brother Elephants lost the championship series in seven games to the Uni-President 7-11 Lions. While average attendance for the league increased in 2009, it decreased by 28% in 2010. The Taiwanese league has faced problems in 1996 and 2005 as well, which further damaged fans’ confidence that the games they were watching were free of organized criminal involvement.
It is clear that lifelong bans have not deterred those who would manipulate matches in Taiwan; therefore, that nation needs to take additional, more proactive measures, and the culture and environment surrounding the sport and its participants needs to alter. However, there is absolutely no proof that MLB clubhouses have the same culture. Furthermore, there is no justification for giving it any room to grow by implying that betting scandals may be overlooked if enough time has gone or if the manager or player in question was competent in their role before they gambled on their team’s outcome.
