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Tomabout 88 miles from Cincinnati in Louisville, the Reds have ALWAYS been my favorite (until Marge Schott f'ed up the whole apple cart, but another story for another day). Went to MANY games when I was a kid from mid 1970's till late 1980's. Still go to some occasionally.
Rose is a hall of famer based on his playing abilities. I agree with the sentiment that many of the current hofer's would be not in if piety was what was being looked at. Gambling, Alcohol, associations with Casinos, Killing someone and many more things are on the docket for guys in Cooperstown now, so I agree with Jay that you'd have to throw out a few if you didn't allow Rose in.
I think what Selig and BB will do, is basically make Rose admit that he bet on baseball, not specifically his team though. If they made him admit that, it might make it more difficult for him to get into HOF. While there's many that don't have any doubt that he bet on the Reds, I haven't seen the final evidence from John Dowd that he did for sure although Dowd says he has it.
I also agree with Scott.....13 years out of the game. If that isn't punishment enough, don't tack another 1-2 years or 6 months or whatever on to the punishment. Just reinstate him. Let the BB writers decide his fate. If they elect him right away, then the 13 years was enough. it might take years to elect him as there are many 'purists' who still hold out they won't vote for him.
Rose used to come to Louisville to the Paul Hornung show yearly (which, ironically enough was held in the Caesar's Riverboat Casino over in Indiana). He was ALWAYS willing to sign for the guests at the show. He would sign a couple of items each time through the line and I would routinely get 8-10 things signed on these visits. Only thing he refused to sign was bats. Saw him sign copys of the Dowd report, Bart Giamatti balls (for me......). He was always polite to the crowd and very candid about his chances to get into the hall of fame. Now......on his choice of clothing, purple slacks might be a little off, but that shouldn't keep him out of the hall...........
Not many guys slide into first base anymore.......few, if any guys, play the game with the zeal that Rose did. Few EVER played the game the way he played it. So, for that, and his abilities and his on field records, he has to go..........
We can start another thread about Joe.............