Keep Rose Out of Hall of Fame

All of us sportswriters are in this virtual press box at World Sports Blogs, so it makes it kind of difficult to really get to know one another on this budding site.

I mean, there's no free buffets, locker rooms, or lame press conferences where we can congregate, laugh at coaches' canned quotes, shoot the bull, or, better yet, argue with each other.

With that admittedly murky backdrop, I am now going to publicly disagree with one of our better columnists, Justice B. Hill.

Disclosure: I do not know Mr. Hill, and have never argued with him before.
I do know good, thought-provoking copy when I read it, however, and felt compelled today to take the other side of the man's well-penned assertion that Pete Rose deserves a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

(Continue to The Grill Room)

For Pete's Sake, Lift Rose's Ban

I’m on a listserve with sports journalists who enjoy the give and take of talking candidly about life. Maybe that’s putting what we do far too politely, because our discussions can be as brutal as the time I sat with Michigan fans when my Buckeyes went to Ann Arbor. We wage verbal warfare over our differing points of view.

Being irreverent isn't beneath us; neither is being politically incorrect nor downright goofy, such has the two- or three-day discussions on soul food and fried chicken. (Popeye’s and KFC didn’t get a mention in this freewheeling chitchat.)

One of the listserve’s topics recently was Pete Rose. We kicked around whether Rose was a better leadoff hitter than Rickey Henderson. We never did reach a consensus, though I reminded my comrades that Henderson’s speed made him far more dangerous than Rose. I made headway with that reasoning.

(Continue to Justice Is Served)

Pete Rose Belongs in Hall of Fame

It has been 20 years since Pete Rose was kicked out of Major League Baseball for betting on it.

Rose got a fair hearing on the allegations that he bet on baseball, and he was rightly found guilty of doing so. But his worthiness for induction into the Hall of Fame has not – and cannot – receive a fair hearing because his punishment for gambling – excommunication from Baseball – prohibits his consideration.

That needs to change.

(Continue to More From Les)