Pete Rose:  “Charlie Hustle” has morphed into “Charlie Hustler.”

BONDS, CLEMENS, McGWIRE & SOSA
SHOULD BE VOTED IN OR OUT
BASED ON THEIR RECORDS,
NOT THEIR CHARACTER

Mike Mussina gets shortchanged,
as ‘Charlie Hustle’ (Pete Rose)
morphs into ‘Charlie Hustler’

ROSE, FOUND GUILTY OF GAMBLING,
DESERVES HIS LIFETIME BAN
 
By David Maril
 
One of the rewards from my having covered Major League Baseball for 25 years is becoming one of only 549 voters participating in the annual Hall of Fame balloting.

This year, we elected four new inductees, the most voted in since 1955.

However, it should have been even more.

Former Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina, in his second year of eligibility, was named on just 135 of the ballots, a slight increase from last year but way below the required 75 percent minimum. Voters are allowed to vote for just 10 and the players remain on the ballot for only 10 years.

There’s still hope for Mussina, who pitched for the Orioles from 1991 to 2000, in future elections, in years when there are fewer marquee former players becoming eligible. This year, Pedro Martínez, Craig Biggio, John Smoltz and Randy Johnson drew most of the attention.

Mussina’s election, however, should be a no-brainer. To put it in perspective, he has almost the same career record as Jim Palmer, considered the greatest pitcher in Orioles history . Mussina’s major league won-lost mark is 270-153 while Palmer’s is 268-152.

No question, Palmer achieved a higher class of brilliance and had a much better earned run average, seven 20-win seasons and three Cy Young Awards.

But don’t forget the fact that Mussina was, for the most part, pitching for some pretty mediocre Orioles teams and spent a good portion of his Baltimore stay towing the mound at Camden Yards, a launching pad for home runs.

Mike Mussina’s election to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame at Cooperstown should be a no-brainer — but it’s not. The Oriole and Yankee great gets shortchanged despite having the same record as Jim Palmer — the greatest pitcher in Orioles’ history and elected to the MLB Hall in 1990, his first year of eligibility. (Mussina’s record is 270-153 while Palmer’s is 268-152.)

Mussina, by the way, finished on top. His one 20-win season, with the Yankees, came in his final campaign. He certainly could have padded his totals, reaching the 300-win plateau, by sticking around a few more years.

Voting in the annual election has become a more challenging task each year. One of the big controversies is whether or not stars with great stats who are alleged to have taken steroids and other performance enhancers, should be elected.

Players like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa certainly have the statistics to be elected. However, the last few years they have not even come close.

My philosophy is that candidates go through a screening process by the Hall of Fame, and if they are on the ballot, I judge them only by what they did on the baseball field. I am not a detective and I do not have results from legitimate investigations on whether these players used banned or illegal performance enhancers. I can only judge them on what I observed of their performances on the field.

Voters who refuse to vote for these players because of the character issue, are being hypocritical. If you strictly enforced the character rule, more than half of the elected players would be tossed out of Cooperstown.

Over the years, plenty of cheaters, racists, criminals and “bad actors” have been elected. If a player has flagrantly violated the Hall of Fame’s code, he should be investigated by the Hall of Fame Committee and if deemed unworthy for consideration, kept off the ballot.

Pete Rose is a perfect example. People often ask me if I would vote for Rose.

My answer is if the Committee decides to pardon him, lifting his ban from baseball, I will vote for him. But until then, he’s not on the ballot and shouldn’t get in.

Believe me, Rose is the extreme sad example of somebody who had it all and blew it.

The former Reds and Phillies star could be very likable and still had the enthusiasm and spirit of a kid even when he was a veteran player.

I observed him up close, for my first time, covering the 1975 World Series.

FAMOUS GAME SIX OF THE 1975 WORLD SERIES

In the famous Game Six, hours after Carlton Fisk’s dramatic World Series home run sailed over the left field wall in Fenway Park, Rose was still sitting in front of his locker, almost smothered by a pack of 50 sports writers, answering the same questions over and over following a devastating loss.

How hard would it be for the Reds to regain momentum now forced to play a seventh game?

How much would a loss like this take out of the team after it had seemed so close to wrapping the 1975 World Series up in Game Six?

Did Rose think Fisk’s ball would stay fair?

Were the Red Sox tougher than the Big Red Machine players had expected?

What was Rose thinking?

Again, would the Reds be able to bounce back?

How did Rose feel?

To Boston media members, used to the surliness in the Red Sox locker room even after a win, it seemed incomprehensible that Rose would be so cooperative after a crushing defeat.

ONE GREAT GAME

“I’ll tell you, that was one great game,” a beaming Rose kept commenting. “It was tremendous just being a part of that.”

Listening to Rose, you had the feeling he had a strong sense of pride in baseball. Not only was he a talented, hard-nosed and great player, he maintained a tremendous enthusiasm and respect for the game.

That was Rose at his best, one of the most respected players of all time.

But today, we are dealing with Rose at his worst.

Instead of pushing his teammates to play harder and motivating a generation of youngsters on achieving success through team play, Rose has become a superstar huckster and publicity hound.  He’s like a wad of discarded chewing gum that gets caught on the bottom of a shoe that you can’t scrape away.

There’s no question Rose, who had only average speed and power, was inspirational as he amassed Hall of Fame statistics through perseverance.

However, even the intensity of the way he played, personified by his jarring collision with Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game,  isn’t enough  to overshadow his wagering on baseball.

Pete Rose gets tossed around the WrestleMania pay- per-view ring in 2000 by wrestler known as “Kane,” who vanquished the former Major League Baseball great in the ring on at least five occasions.  Rose is believed to be earning more than $1 million annually from such paid public appearances and autograph signings, including those held at Cooperstown, N.Y. around the Hall of Fame induction weekend each year, where he is a fan favorite despite being barred from attending the ceremonies inducting his peers.

Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling. Those who continue calling for his reinstatement, which would open the door for his admission to the Hall of Fame, are overlooking a number of serious factors.

First of all, he was formally investigated by Major League Baseball and it was determined that it’s a fact he bet on baseball games when he managed, which is in violation of one of the sport’s most important rules.

Every major league clubhouse has signs warning against gambling, and the credibility of the game is jeopardized when participants violate this rule.

Whether or not Rose bet against his own team is irrelevant. Every time Rose placed a bet he was sending a message filled with inside information to gamblers.

If you open the door for Rose to be reinstated and gain entry to the Hall of Fame, the precedent is set for players from the Black Sox Scandal who were banned from the game, such as Shoeless Joe Jackson, to also be put into the Hall of Fame.

It’s not as if Rose is starving because of the ban. He still makes a fortune signing autographs and hustling all sorts of memorabilia.

Despite his ban, Rose’s statistical accomplishments, which include a record 4,256 hits and a 44-game hitting streak, are recognized in the Hall of Fame and he gets his due in the museum’s exhibits.

Bud Selig, baseball’s outgoing weak-kneed commissioner, has remained firm in maintaining Rose’s lifetime ban.

The only induction Rose merits is as a charter member in a hustler’s hall of fame. He’s gone from being “Charlie Hustle” to “Charlie Hustler.”

But until Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame Committee want to do the dirty work and decide, after formal investigations, that players like Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and Sosa should be banned from baseball, they deserve fair consideration on the Cooperstown ballot based on their achievements on the field.
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.

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