Pete Rose has one of the best careers in MLB history. He has the most hits, a 44 game hitting streak, played 5 different positions successfully, had a pretty darn good BA (.303) and is one of the best switch hitters in baseballs history. These numbers and records don't even begin to skim the surface of Pete's success. The success that is constantly over looked, which keeps him off the Hall of Fame ballots.
I, like many, feel that Pete should be rightfully recognized in Cooperstown for his efforts and achievements on the field. .
How I, and I am sure many others, see it is simple. Statistics don't lie. They didn't lie for Ty Cobb, who at the end of his career was accused of fixing and betting on baseball. He was put into the Hall of Fame in 1936. I think that that's exactly where he should be too. He was an amazing player. He had a lifetime BA of .367, stole nearly 900 bases in 24 years, holds the most bases collected in a single AL game (16) and received 12 batting titles, 9 of which are consecutive. What I don't think is fair about that is that Pete's success was clearly overlooked, and Ty's clearly wasn't. .
What about Kobe Bryant? The Lakers player who's currently on trial for sexual assault charges while still playing in the regular season. He has the support of many people, including his coaches and the NBA. So the NBA seems to be able to look past the chaos and wrong doing outside of what happens on the court and obviously the NFL can too because Lawrence Taylor was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999, even though the NFL was very aware of his substance abuse. And even in the MLB.Sammy Sosa and his corked bat, which is cheating, which is breaking the most important rule in baseball, which is being kicked out of the game and not eligible for Hall of Fame status but no. All he got was a measly 7 game suspension, a mere slap on the wrist compared to Pete Rose. My point is is that there are all sorts of wrong doing in athletics, there always has been and there always will be.