Tuesday, October 26, 1999
Selig still blocking Rose from Hall
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Despite the overwhelming applause Sunday night in Atlanta, despite the interview by NBC's Jim Gray that turned Pete Rose into a sympathetic character, lawyers and Baseball Hall of Fame experts don't envision the doors of Cooperstown being opened to No.14.
Not while Bud Selig is base ball commissioner, anyway.
“The (1991) rule that made Pete ineligible (for Cooperstown) was made by the Hall of Fame Board of Directors, and that board is full of baseball people, including Bud Selig,” said Bill Deane, former researcher at the Hall of Fame.
“They'd have to rescind the rule, and that probably isn't likely to happen. If they did it, they'd probably have to take a lot of flack for allowing one thing (entry to Cooperstown) and not allowing another (reinstatement to baseball),” Deane said. “But it's an interesting idea and it may be worth proposing.”
Selig could not be reached for comment Monday. But there is no indication that anything Selig saw or heard in Atlanta has softened his view on Rose, including — even making a distinction between allowing Rose into the Hall, but not back into baseball.
“Unless there's overwhelming support among Major League Baseball owners — and Bud Selig feels the crunch of it — they (baseball) aren't going to do anything,” about allowing Rose into the Hall of Fame, said James Crowley, a sports lawyer in Cincinnati.
Could public support, which continues to grow for Rose, rise to the level of causing Baseball to relent on Rose's eligibility for Cooperstown, if not for total reinstatement?
Crowley can't envision that happening, certainly not with Selig in charge.
“The world runs on self-interest ... and what self-interest of baseball can be served by allowing Rose into the Hall of Fame or back into baseball?” Crowley asked. “Baseball didn't care what the fans
thought regarding the completion of the 1994 season and the World Series ... I can't imagine Bud Selig changing his mind on Rose.”
Crowley agreed with Deane that baseball leadership would likely have to change before Rose's status is changed.
Deane and Crowley both believe there is sufficient distinction between Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson (another prominent member of baseball's permanently ineligible list) to someday allow Rose into the Hall while continuing to keep Jackson out.
To wit: there is nothing in the report of investigator John Dowd, or in any other evidence that baseball has made public, to indicate that Rose bet against his team, the Cincinnati Reds. Jackson, on the other hand, took money for the fixing of the 1919 World Series.
Bill Cunningham, a lawyer and talk-show host on WLW-AM, believes baseball's next commissioner will open Cooperstown's doors.
Cunningham cited the precedent of former commissioner Bowie Kuhn banning Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle from baseball because of their meet-and-greet work at a casino, but then subsequent commissioner Peter Ueberroth coming along and rescinding that ban.
Rose is far more interested in being allowed back into baseball than he is being enshrined in Cooperstown, Cunningham said.
“He'd rather be manager than be in the Hall of Fame,” said the talk-show host.
Rose could not be reached for comment Monday.
Crowley and Cunningham believe Rose's status would change if Rose were to admit he bet on baseball, express a sincere contriteness, seek help for his gambling problem and throw himself at baseball's mercy.
But Crowley and Cunningham don't envision that happening.
And unless all of it happens, an admission and apology by itself would probably not be enough, Cunningham said.
“For Pete to come clean, he'd have to make Jimmy Swaggart's "I have sinned' confession look timid by comparison,” Cunningham said. “If Pete did it all (got help for his gambling problem and vowed never to gamble again), the fences would be down and he'd be in.”
Such actions, however, are not those of the player who was so driven to break Ty Cobb's all-time hit record ... to stretch singles into doubles and doubles into triples ... and played in more winning games than anybody in the history of sport, said Cunningham, who is close to the hit king.
“What made Pete great (as a player) is the same thing that keeps him from coming clean,” said Cunningham, referring to Rose's indomitable will.
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