Shoeless Joe had a lifetime batting average more than 50 points higher than that of Pete Rose -- and 12 points higher than that of Ted Williams. Where Williams' highest batting average was .406, Shoeless Joe Jackson hit .408. And he is still not in Cooperstown.
A good commentary that makes the case that Shoeless Joe should be admitted the HOF before Rose, but Dr. Sowell wishes neither would happen. Sowell is one of my favorite authors, but I think there should be a distinction between betting on your team to win and throwing games. Rose's involvement with illegal gambling does question whether those gamblers could have blackmailed him as a result of his gambling debts. But did he?
First of all, baseball is bigger than any individual who plays it. Like so many things in life, the tangible things in major league baseball cannot exist without the intangibles -- of which the trust of the public is the most important. Once the public decides that it is all fake and crooked, this thriving sports empire collapses like a house of cards. Ballplayers who deal with professional gamblers jeopardize the whole game of baseball.
Sowell makes a good point here, but numerous players have been allowed back after illicit drug use, which can have a bigger effect on quality of play than gambling. Can’t Strawberry get into the same kind of debt with the mob by buying drugs? Can’t he be asked to throw ball games to make up for his debts? You can make a legal bet in Nevada. But cocaine is illegal everywhere.
Those who say that we should admit Pete Rose to the Hall of Fame and then "move on" and "forget about it" have profoundly misunderstood human beings. What we do today affects what other people will do or not do tomorrow. If you want rules to be forgotten, then just forget to enforce them.
I think Charlie Hustle is too competitive to throw baseball games, and that should be the point. If it can be proven that Rose tried to lose, then he should never step on a ball field again. I agree that Shoeless Joe should be admitted first, because Jackson only knew about a plan to throw the series, he didn't participate. Baseball should either lift the ban on Rose and Jackson or propose a no tolerance stand on all players that engage in illicit activity.
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