Cincy retires #14 for Pete Rose

[Double Gator Dad]

Sasquatch,

I don't need to have you explain what I already understand.

The discussion went from me asking why we should celebrate cheating as a means to saving baseball and your response was to suggest that it was a great thing because everyone was cheating. How does the fact that everyone was cheating make it okay for it to save baseball?

I don't follow baseball and I don't really care about it in part due to the fact that for an entire decade or more, everyone to include the owners looked the other way and celebrated something that was fake. The real joke here is that baseball prides itself on tradition and the numbers and the records yet they all looked the other way while sacred records such as Hank Aaron's and Roger Maris's iconic records were compromised.

Exciting does not justify cheating. That is all I am saying.

 

[rogdochar]

Exciting does not justify cheating. That is all I am saying.

I'm with you all the way, no stealing bases evermore !

 

[MJMGator]

Was it really cheating? If I recall correctly, MLB didn't have a rule against it and they didn't test for it, either. They knew what was going on and chose to look the other way...for as long as they could.

 

[GatorBart]

Charlie Hustle!

 

[GatorJ]

Was it really cheating? If I recall correctly, MLB didn't have a rule against it and they didn't test for it, either. They knew what was going on and chose to look the other way...for as long as they could.

There was no testing. They instituted testing afterwords and players like Rafael Palmeiro were suspended for failing the test.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

Was it really cheating? If I recall correctly, MLB didn't have a rule against it and they didn't test for it, either. They knew what was going on and chose to look the other way...for as long as they could.

This is also the biggest part of it. If it's not against the rules, why wouldn't you do it?

 

[Scott512]

I'll bet you $100 he never gets his lifetime ban from MLB lifted.

What? Too soon?

He never will get it lifted. But he should for what he did as a player. He is banned for what he did as a manager not player. Yet MLB keeps all of Pete Rose's record breaking bats, balls and uniforms in the hall of fame for what he did as a player yet he is still;ed banned for life for what he did as a manager. I am okay with banning him but then don't be hypocrites and keep all his historic "stuff" in the hall. That is bogus. Rose will never be in the hall but all of his stuff is. Ridiculous.

 

[Gatordiddy]

For the record, so to speak, Babe Ruth's record had LONG been broken by the time McGuire and Sosa came around -
and I'm talking about the single season record that Roger Maris set back in 1961.
Even though Maris caught a huge amount of fecal matter back in the day including death threats.

But an asterisk for years because the baseball purists: 1. Loved Ruth 2. It took Maris 6 additional games to do it. (162 vs. 156)

For McGuire to hand over the bat to the Maris family in the stands after he broke Roger's record was pretty cool when it happened.
But ask the Maris family today and they weren't thrilled with the fact that their Dad/Husband did it the right way and McGuire cheated to do it.
And don't tell me that ..."oh they cheated back in the day too..." But Maris didn't and he nearly quit baseball because of it.
In fact - he went to St Louis to get the hell away from NYC.

This is the kind of stuff that stains the game... doesn't matter if MLB was testing for it or not, you don't do it if you value the integrity of the game.
And that's just a purist standpoint.
I'm sure MLB was thoroughly enjoying the exposure during the time... and then to act shocked is like:

Overall MLB only has themselves to blame ...especially when they try to go back and retroactively change the rules, when there were really no rules in place.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Pete Rose pleaded guilty to tax evasion related to gambling and cocaine distribution profits. Everyone forgets the second part. His defense was that you can't trust his buddies who were prepared to testify against him because they were cocaine dealers.

Fvkk him. He should have been in prison for the rest of his life.