Pete Rose

Pete Rose

Bart Giamatti's decision to ban Pete Rose from the Baseball Hall of Fame was not a fair decision at all. Pete Rose was placed on Baseball's ineligible list in 1989 when commissioner of baseball, Bart Giamatti concluded that Rose had bet on baseball games, including games involving his own team, the Cincinnati Reds. In an agreement made with Baseball, Rose accepted his banishment from the sport. Although he never admitted to having gambled on baseball games (Maury). Pete Rose was a phenomenal baseball player and manager. He was accused of gambling. His team while he was managing was supposedly involved. Bart Giamatti's severe punishment of Pete Rose is a very controversial topic in the world of sports. There are a few rules that must have been followed to be inducted to the Hall of Fame. The one that is keeping Rose away is rule five. Rule five states: Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team or teams on which the player played (Maury). This rule has been tested and beaten many times. Many players have entered the Baseball Hall of Fame such as the very unlikable Ty Cobb, the drinking Babe Ruth, the umpire abusing John McGraw, the racist Cap Anson, Gaylord Perry a suspected cheater, and the gambling Leo Durocher. Those are just a few of the baseball players who somehow made into the Hall of Fame and got passed rule five (Ritter). Pete Rose's problem was not even as severe as all of these other men. The argument to this is that if these men can make it into the Hall of Fame why is Pete Rose banned. It is obvious that these players made it there with just their playing abilities and not by all of the other characteristics needed to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (Maury). Pete Rose started playing professional baseball in 1960 in the minor leagues and by 1963 he reached the Major Leagues as a rookie second baseman with the National League's Cincinnati Reds. Rose won the National League's Rookie of the Year Award for 1963. He spent most of his 24 year career playing with the Reds, Rose also played with the Phillies and the Expos. In 1985 Rose broke one of the most "unbreakable" records of all time, by passing out Ty Cobb for the most career hits ever (Sports Illustrated.). Rose holds many records, some of which are: most games played, most at bats, and most singles by a major league baseball player. All of these statistics are definitely Hall of Fame worthy (Sports Illustrated). Pete Rose denies that he ever bet on Major League baseball games. The commissioner of baseball, Bart Giamatti, did not believe Rose at all. There is not any kind of proof that directly led to Rose gambling. There is evidence that does lead to Rose gambling on games, even ones involving the Cincinnati Reds (Ritter). This evidence came from three men who are former friends of Pete Rose. Tommy Gioiosa, Paul Janszen and Ron Peters were a group of bodybuilders in a local gym in Cincinnati. All three of them used steroids to make themselves physically big (Maury). Gioiosa, Janszen, and Peters each was convicted of felonies. They were all involved in illegal gambling, drug dealing (cocaine and steroids), and income tax evasion. Pete Rose knew what kind of men these three were and broke away from them. It is possible that these three men could have turned Rose in for some kind of pay back, because of the fact that Rose stopped associating with them (Maury). How reliable are these men and their information about Rose? Pete Rose met Tommy Gioiosa in Florida in 1978. The two of these men became good friends. Gioiosa moved to Cincinnati and lived with Rose and his family that year. Tommy Gioiosa introduced Rose to the group of bodybuilders at the local Cincinnati gym. Among this group were the gym's owner Mike Fry, and a bodybuilder Donald Stenger. Donald Stenger was a big supporter of steroids. Tommy Gioiosa really bulked himself up with steroids that he got from Stenger (Ritter). When Rose was asked about gambling, the only name that was said was Tommy Gioiosa. Gioiosa would be the one to know what really happened (Maury). In February of 1990 after refusing to speak about the investigation of Pete Rose to baseball officials, and six months after Rose's banishment, Tommy Gioiosa was on a Cincinnati talk show. On this show Gioiosa claimed that Rose did bet on baseball games. By this time the two men were no longer friends. The investigation of this is if Tommy Gioiosa is telling the truth or was he being revengeful (Ritter). He might be paying Rose back for having taking advantage of him, because Gioiosa claims that Rose frequently borrowed money from him but never paid it back. Paul Janszen played a major role in Major League Baseball's investigation of Pete Rose as well. Tommy Gioiosa introduced Janszen to Pete Rose in October of 1986. A year later Janszen would replace Gioiosa as being Pete Rose's "number one man". He was a shadow to Rose. Paul Janszen and his girlfriend Danita Marcum went with Rose and his family to Florida for the 1987 Spring Training season. During the 1987 baseball season, Janszen was a frequent visitor to Rose's manager's office at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati (Ritter). In March of 1988 Janszen was being investigated in connection with an FBI search into drug dealing and income tax evasion. Other members of the local gym were involved and Janszen began cooperating with the investigators. Janszen also needed a lawyer, and to pay for this Janszen need to get back the $40,000 he had lent Rose the past year. According to Paul Janszen Pete Rose only paid back $10,000. The rest of the money that Janszen felt Rose owed him would never be coming (Ritter). After this Paul Janszen was feeling betrayed by Pete Rose, he then began answering questions about him to the FBI investigators. Janszen plead guilty to a charge of income tax evasion and because of his cooperation he received a light sentence of six months in a halfway house. Paul Janszen had also talked to John Dowd who was leading the Pete Rose investigation. Janszen had told this man in February of 1989 that Rose had bet on baseball games. Janszen also provided documentary evidence in the form of betting sheets that were written by Pete Rose (Ritter). Another friend of Pete Rose had also provided information to John Dowd; Ron Peters. Ron Peters claims that in 1987 Rose would sometimes bet up to $30,000 a day on various Major League baseball games. Peters was convicted of drug dealing and tax evasion (Maury). Paul Janszen's and Ron Peter's testimony was said to be accurate by John Dowd. Dowd