the all-time leader in games umpired<\/a>, could not quite endorse the all-time leader in games played.<\/p>\n\u201cDo Pete\u2019s statistics say that he should be in? Yeah,\u201d said West, who lives in Orlando in retirement. \u201cBut I think character has a lot to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So here we go. Character. Asterisks. You\u2019ll be hearing those words again \u2014 a million times \u2014 when Rose finally digs into that Hall of Fame batter\u2019s box. How did the baseball people we talked to feel about those thorny little issues? Let\u2019s take a longer look.<\/p>\n
Tony Perez, friend and teammate ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-543418756-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Pete Rose fist-bumps Tony Perez during his induction into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2016. (Jamie Sabau \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
They played their first games together in 1960, in the Class-D New York-Penn League. It wasn\u2019t the last time. Rose and Tony Perez spent 16 more seasons in Cincinnati (1964-76, then again in 1984-85-86), as teammates for the Reds, plus a 1983 reunion with the \u201cWheeze Kids\u201d Phillies. So no one in baseball has seen the Pete Rose Show as close up as Atanasio (Tony) Perez.<\/p>\n
Perez, a Hall of Famer himself, was one of the 16 people who had an official vote last weekend on Bonds and Clemens, as a member of the Contemporary Era Committee. In the case of Rose, his longtime friend and teammate, all he has is an opinion. You can no doubt guess what it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he told me \u2014 he told a lot of people \u2014 that he doesn\u2019t want to be (inducted) at the Hall of Fame when he passes,\u201d Perez said. \u201cBut he belongs. He did what he did, and he paid for it, but he deserves to be a Hall of Famer.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE ATHLETIC: \u201cAre you saying that as a teammate and a friend? Or are you saying that as a Hall of Famer yourself, knowing what the Hall of Fame is and what it represents?\u201d<\/p>\n
PEREZ: \u201cI\u2019d say either, because I\u2019ve seen him play for a long time, since 1960. And in the way he plays the game and the way, as his teammate, that he makes a team better, he deserved to be in. That\u2019s baseball. I want him to be in as his friend, too, but I don\u2019t think (about) this like a friend. I think like a teammate, and part of the team he was playing for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim Kaat, Rose\u2019s former pitching coach ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_18741097-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Jim Kaat gives his Hall of Fame acceptance speech on Induction Day in 2022. (Gregory Fisher \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
But not all of Rose\u2019s former teammates see it that way. Jim Kaat is the perfect example.<\/p>\n
Kaat\u2019s era as a pitcher was Rose\u2019s era as a 200-hit machine. So they faced each other 40 times. Kaat was also Rose\u2019s teammate, briefly, in Philadelphia \u2014 and a pitching coach under Rose the manager in Cincinnati, in 1984-85.<\/p>\n
Kaat even scored a massive exclusive interview with Rose, as a broadcaster for ESPN, as MLB\u2019s betting investigation was closing in, back in the spring of 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went out back of the clubhouse and gave me a five- or 10-minute interview,\u201d Kaat recalled. \u201cAnd I asked him, \u2018Did you bet on baseball?\u2019 He kept denying he was. I get from a lot of people that, well, he just bet on his own team, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that. Well, there is.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as friendly as Kaat and Rose once were, this was one Hall of Famer who wasn\u2019t interested in handing Rose a pass into the plaque gallery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear people talk about the sanctity of the plaque,\u201d said Kaat, who was also a voter in this week\u2019s Contemporary Era Committee election. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know if he deserves one of those.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joe West, umpiring legend![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-1052426684.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf you were on Pete\u2019s team, you loved him. And if you weren\u2019t on his team, you hated him,\u201d Joe West said. \u201cBut Pete\u2019s biggest problem was that he thought he was bigger than the game, and he wasn\u2019t.\u201d (Elsa \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
They knew each other for close to 50 years \u2014 the Hit King and Cowboy Joe, the man with the longest tenure as a big-league umpire in history. So Rose played and\/or managed in hundreds of games that Joe West umpired. Yet when you listen to West talk, you get the impression that despite everything he saw from Rose, he wouldn\u2019t give him a Hall of Fame endorsement.<\/p>\n
\u201cPete was a winner,\u201d West told The Athletic. \u201cIf you were on Pete\u2019s team, you loved him. And if you weren\u2019t on his team, you hated him. But Pete\u2019s biggest problem was that he thought he was bigger than the game, and he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Former Twins outfielder) Danny Gladden asked me one day, he said, \u2018Do you think Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame?\u2019 And I said, \u2018No.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Because of the gambling?\u2019 and I said, \u2018No.\u2019 He said, \u2018Well, if not the gambling, why?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Well, the Hall of Fame is a special place, where you have to look at a man\u2019s character. You don\u2019t want somebody who\u2019s a bad character in your Hall of Fame.\u2019 And Pete hadn\u2019t shown that he can be remorseful or sorry for his mistakes, and at the time he had not admitted (he bet on baseball). So I said, \u2018That being the criteria, I\u2019d have to say no.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
West understands how easy it would be for future voters to look up and down Rose\u2019s hits column and conclude it makes no sense for the Hall of Fame not to include a plaque for the player with the most hits ever. But Cooperstown, West said, is a place that stands for something larger than numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hurts me to say this, but character has a lot to do with who you\u2019re going to put in your shrine,\u201d West said. \u201cAnd I think if baseball looked back on what Ty Cobb did in his real life, you wouldn\u2019t have put him in. And yet his statistics say that he has to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The managers speak <\/p>\n
Aaron Boone was still in kindergarten the day in 1979 that Rose first walked into the Phillies clubhouse occupied by his dad, longtime catcher Bob Boone. So has any manager in this sport had a better view of the Hit King than the manager of the Yankees?<\/p>\n
THE ATHLETIC: \u201cYou knew Pete very well. Would you put him in the Hall of Fame? Do you think he belongs despite everything?\u201d<\/p>\n
BOONE: \u201cYes, because I do fall in the place of, it\u2019s a museum. I think it\u2019s important to acknowledge what happened, and that\u2019s why he wasn\u2019t allowed back in the game, and that\u2019s reasonable. But to me, enough time has gone off. So yeah, hopefully, he ends up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
TA: \u201cSo would you acknowledge it on the plaque somewhere? \u2018Pete Rose got more hits than anyone who ever lived, but \u2026\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n
BOONE: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
TA: \u201cWell, it sounded like you thought there should be some context or something there.\u201d<\/p>\n
BOONE: \u201cLook, I think there always will be context when it comes to him. I think everyone\u2019s going to know that story once he gets in. So I would be in favor, I think, of him going in. He\u2019s an all-time great.\u201d<\/p>\n
But we didn\u2019t have to ask that question of Dave Roberts. He brought up the asterisk on the plaque before we could even go there.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me personally, I think that his baseball card speaks to (getting a plaque in Cooperstown),\u201d the Dodgers\u2019 manager said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy. I know it\u2019s not easy. \u2026 But I do think that there should be a place for him, and it could be noted, footnoted, of what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it should be mentioned that he got suspended, because then the bottom line is that his playing career warrants it. And no one can debate that. But I do think that having that part of the story (written on Rose\u2019s plaque) is important. I think that\u2019s important, too, to tell the (full) story.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_27775136-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think that he should be there (in the Hall) \u2014 with some type of asterisk,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Pete Rose. (Mike Watters \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Roberts never asked us if anyone agreed with him. But Rangers manager Skip Schumaker had a nearly identical take. The legend of No. 14, he said, is too large to ignore. And he believes Rose isn\u2019t the only legend baseball needs to stop ignoring.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you not have the all-time hits leader in the Hall of Fame?\u201d Schumaker asked. \u201cAnd I think people are ready for it. I\u2019ve honestly thought it was tragic that he wasn\u2019t here to see himself go into the Hall of Fame. So, yeah, I think there should be a bunch of people that should be in the Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was he insinuating that Bonds and Clemens should also be in the Hall? Schumaker quickly nodded in the affirmative.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Among others,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very interesting topic, because you can\u2019t act like (PED use) never happened in the game. And I think the reality is that, in my opinion, if you want to put an asterisk by it, or whatever you want to do, Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame. He\u2019s arguably the best hitter to ever be in a baseball uniform, so I think he absolutely should be in there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I just also believe that if you want to put something by it, like explaining the (PED) era, or whatever you want to say about it, that\u2019s OK too. I just don\u2019t think that we should act like that never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
But are Bonds and Clemens really no different than Rose?![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP18023625844992.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens didn\u2019t come close to election in this week\u2019s Contemporary Baseball Era Committee election. (Associated Press photos)<\/p>\n
So are these men right? Is the Hall of Fame \u201conly\u201d a museum that should tell the complete story of baseball in every room and every way? Or is the plaque gallery a whole separate entity from the museum itself \u2014 a shrine that requires its brightest stars to earn the honor of being chiseled in bronze?<\/p>\n
There is no automatic answer to that question. While you contemplate it, you should be aware that we contacted the Hall to ask how many Pete Rose artifacts are on display in the museum, even if the Hit King remains invisible inside the plaque gallery.<\/p>\n
Tom Shieber, a senior archivist at the Hall, reported the museum has nine artifacts on display that are directly related to Rose. They include the shoes he wore when he set the all-time hits record, a jersey he wore during his MVP season of 1973, the cap he wore when he set the record for most games played in history and the bat he used to get a hit in his 44th straight game in 1978.<\/p>\n
The Hall also has more than 20 other Rose artifacts in its archives, not even counting an array of pins, bobbleheads, photos, programs, cards, etc. So if you walk through the museum, you will be reminded repeatedly that Pete Rose did lots of unforgettable, historic things in baseball.<\/p>\n
But the sport must decide: Is Rose\u2019s \u201ccrime,\u201d of betting on baseball, more or less serious than the \u201ccrimes\u201d against baseball that the stars of the PED era committed?<\/p>\n
The men who played at the same time as Rose think they know that answer. Even Rose\u2019s good friend, Perez, made an unequivocal case that his teammate made the regrettable choice to commit baseball\u2019s most serious offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference was, that (no gambling) sign was in every clubhouse, at the door,\u201d Perez said. \u201cIt was \u2018NO GAMBLING,\u2019 not \u2018NO DRUGS.\u2019 Gambling was the only sign we see every day when we get to the ballpark, to the clubhouse, and that\u2019s why they think that he was wrong. He was wrong, wrong, wrong \u2014 because he forgot about that. He might be thinking he was better than baseball. No. Nobody\u2019s better than baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Cleveland \u2026 <\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s address maybe the most uncomfortable question of all. We are having this conversation at the same time two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians \u2014 Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz \u2014 are staring at federal charges that accuse them of allegedly helping gamblers<\/a> win a series of prop bets.<\/p>\nBy the time Rose appears on that Hall of Fame ballot, we are likely to know the fate of Clase and Ortiz. But what message would it deliver for voters to send Rose to the Hall at the same time two modern-day players might well be facing jail time for their own association with betting on baseball?<\/p>\n
The manager of the Guardians, Stephen Vogt, couldn\u2019t address that question. But he understood why we were asking him if there should be a place for Rose in the Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a touchy subject, obviously,\u201d Vogt said. \u201cI just feel like we\u2019ve had these rules in place for a long time, so I don\u2019t know where that line gets drawn or how, you know, negate that. But I mean, Pete Rose obviously is one of the best players to ever walk the face of the planet. And there\u2019s a lot of guys that \u2014 I mean, is it the Hall of Good People or is it the Hall of Fame? I don\u2019t know the answer to that question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vogt shared that he once wrote a paper in middle school on gambling on baseball. So what, we asked, would the young Stephen Vogt think about the possibility of the Hit King, now that he\u2019s reinstated, getting into the Hall of Fame?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I (wrote) that my opinion on the matter was no,\u201d Vogt said. \u201cBut now, having worked in baseball and having seen what it takes, I\u2019m glad I don\u2019t have that decision to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
In two years, though, 16 members of a future era committee will have that decision to make. And how can you not wonder whether the fate of two Cleveland pitchers will somehow color the vote on baseball\u2019s all-time hits leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to speculate on what\u2019s true or not about the guys in Cleveland,\u201d Boone said. \u201cYou just hope that (the consequences in) those high-profile cases will continue to be another in a long line of deterrents for (baseball) people from going down that road and knowing that there\u2019s so much at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n
And don\u2019t forget, Boone said, that whatever happens in two years, Rose has already paid a life-altering price \u2014 banished from the game for the rest of his lifetime and no longer alive to see his Hall of Fame case decided. It\u2019s a story that has been told so many times \u2014 including again here \u2014 that no one who works in baseball can possibly pretend to ignore.<\/p>\n
So is baseball ready for this \u2014 Pete Rose, Hall of Famer? That debate is going to intensify, so you might want to keep your volume button handy. But that debate will always include the full story of the Hit King, where the hits are inseparable from the purgatory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe penalty is still the ultimate penalty, whether he gets in the Hall of Fame or not,\u201d Boone said. \u201cHe never got to work again.\u201d
Pete Rose will be eligible for the Hall\u2019s Classic Baseball Era ballot in two years. At the Winter Meetings, we asked prominent people in the sport whether Rose belongs Cooperstown. The answers were as conflicted as you would expect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Uh-oh. Here he comes, heading for the on-deck circle, for the first time in four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5257,1187,591,2704,2365,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-343339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york-yankees","14":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}