Exiled
By Ryan F., Hull, MA
Reading "Exiled" by Russell Y., I began to wonder if he even knows why Pete Rose was banned from baseball.
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson might have been one of the greatest players of all time, but he will never be in the Hall of Fame. He won't even be remembered as a great player, only as one of those who threw the 1919 "Black Sox" World Series. After that, fans stopped coming and baseball was almost finished for good. Thanks to Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and others, baseball eventually began to regain its integrity and fan base.
Then came Pete Rose, who (I'll admit) had an outstanding career, but he was convicted of betting on baseball, even while he was managing the Cincinnati Reds.
Until recently, Pete maintained he had never bet on baseball, but now he's admitting he did, just not on Reds games (even though many players recall him using the phone inside their clubhouse to bet on Reds games).
Now, Russell, don't you think if a manager knows he has to win by at least three runs (or whatever the spread was), it might influence how he strategizes his game plan? His gambling may have altered baseball history, and on top of that, he lied about it.
Only the chance of getting into the Hall of Fame made him come clean. It seems to me that he's only interested in one thing ... what's best for Pete Rose.
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