Pete Rose: The Hit King

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Pete Rose also known as “The Hit King” is arguably one of the greatest players in the history of professional baseball. With his hard work ethic and intensity, Pete Rose played the game for 24 seasons (1963-1986). According to Baseball-reference.com, Pete rose ended his career with 4,256 hits (surpassing Ty Cobb in 1985), 3,562 games played, and 3,215 singles. Being the holder of 19 major league records, no ball player will likely surpass them. Rose was likely to have been inducted into the hall of fame, but in 1989 he was accused of betting on baseball. For more than two decades now, Rose has pled for his reinstatement, and during that time, the MLB has declined his requests, holding firm on the terms of the original Giamatti agreement: …show more content…

With MLB’s rules and punishments inconsistent with other popular sports, I don’t think that his punishment was necessarily just, and since social mores are forever changing, I still believe his accomplishments should be respected …show more content…

Pete Rose was basically punished for one thing, that is betting on his team to win. It doesn’t matter if he was betting for or against his own team, it’s still a lifetime suspension. In my opinion the punishment does not fit the crime. For example, in the early 1960s, NFL stars Paul Hornung and Alex Karras were both suspended for one season for betting on football games. Paul Hornung ended up in the Hall of Fame while Karras became a TV celebrity. Neither one of them were thought to have seriously imperiled the sport or its popularity. In essence, we can draw a line between the law and appropriate justice. According to the NFL law, Hornung was suspended for one year, whereas MLB suspended Pete Rose for life. With these inconsistencies, I believe that we need to be more aware of the justness of the existing laws and regulations within sports, and make appropriate changes to punishments that are deemed disproportionate. This happens in the real world all the time. Standards change, and society changes its norms as well. Major League Baseball could regain some credibility and fairness by eliminating excessive punishments for certain offenses. Many people say that Robert Manfred should not lift the ban unless it’s good for baseball. Baseball has evolved into an enterprise worth billions of dollars. I can’t think of anything that Pete Rose could do that is either positive or negative that would make even the tiniest

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