There aren’t many headlines worthy of convincing Stephen A. Smith to talk baseball on First Take, but Pete Rose dying was one.
Rose died at the age of 83 on Monday, reopening one of the longest-tenured debates in sports history surrounding his Hall-of-Fame candidacy, or lack thereof. 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. And in the wake of Rose’s death bringing new life to his Hall-of-Fame debate, Stephen A. Smith went off Tuesday morning on First Take.
“MURDERERS have been let off quicker than Pete Rose has.” – Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/ApGTDfBSJN
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 1, 2024
“People make mistakes. MURDERERS have been let off quicker than Pete Rose has. And baseball wants to sit up there with its high and mighty hypocritical self and literally denigrate this man,” Smith ranted to Christopher ‘Mad Dog’ Russo. “In 1999 he got a standing ovation in Atlanta during the World Series…they gave him a standing ovation! The American public said ‘bump all that, we want this man here!’
“We know what he did for the game. We know he hurt himself. We know that wasn’t a good look, but it shouldn’t erase 23 years and they did it anyway. Pox on all their damn houses. They better not make any mistakes. They better not make any mistakes. Don’t forgive ‘em y’all. Don’t forgive ANYBODY in baseball who couldn’t forgive Pete Rose. None of them.”
Rose was banned from Major League Baseball and subsequently prohibited from being on the Hall-of-Fame ballot. But he’s not forgotten or ignored as the sport’s all-time hits leader, a record that is unlikely to ever be broken. Rose is in Cooperstown, he just doesn’t have a plaque in the actual hall. If anything, Rose’s fame and legacy has only grown because of his ban, albeit in a largely negative light, but that was his own doing. In the years following his ban, Rose never showed remorse or attempted to right his wrongs. Should Rose have a plaque in the Hall-of-Fame? Yes. But has his legacy been hurt by the ban to the point where baseball figures deserve a pox on their houses? No.
The other problem with offering Rose this level of an impassioned defense, is the fact that while he was banned for betting on baseball, betting on baseball wasn’t his worst offense. In 2017, Rose was fired from Fox amid allegations he had a sexual relationship with an underage woman in the 1970s. Clearly, Smith was not defending Rose in those allegations. But Rose lived a life that makes it difficult to honor him.
