Bob Costas has a very simple solution to the controversy surrounding Pete Rose’s Baseball Hall of Fame candidacy.
Rose died Monday at the age of 83, giving new life to one of the longest-tenured debates in sports. Should Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame? Costas, one of the foremost voices in baseball, joined Mike Greenberg on ESPN’s Get Up Tuesday morning to discuss Rose’s passing. Naturally, the question of whether Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame was broached and according to Costas, the answer is yes, but with a caveat.
Bob Costas shares his perspective on the possibility of Pete Rose going into the MLB Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/8uj79wLceg
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) October 1, 2024
“My position and the position of millions of others is, yeah, we get it, he broke the cardinal rule. He should be banned from baseball under that rule for life,” Costas acknowledged. “But somebody got those 4,256 base hits and those three batting championships.
“Put him in the Hall of Fame. Put it at the bottom of his plaque, ‘Banned from baseball in 1989 for life’ as part of the record. But he should be in as a player. And as you know, Greeny, if you have a slow day on a talk show and you just say, ‘Hey, should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame?’ The phones light up. All those decades after he last played, he remains a central figure in the minds of baseball fans. Including baseball fans who never saw him play.”
In 1989, Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball after he was found to have bet on the sport and his own team. In 1991, the Hall of Fame ruled that ban would leave Rose ineligible for induction. Rose was banned for betting on baseball, although it’s worth noting betting on baseball might not have been his worst offense. While he was prohibited from being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Rose is in Cooperstown with a display case honoring his hit record.
But Rose and his 4,256 hits, a record that is unlikely to ever be broken, deserves to be mentioned on a plaque in the actual Hall. Just as prohibiting a plaque with Rose’s name on it from being in the Hall of Fame doesn’t erase his accomplishments on the field, putting him into the Hall of Fame won’t forgive his betting scandal.
[Get Up]
