What's worse? Taking performance enhancing drugs or gambling?

1. 86

   Alphadogg16posted 11 years ago

   In my opinion, Pete Rose is the greatest hitter to ever step on a baseball field and should be in the Hall of Fame. I'm sure there are players in the HOF that have also done some immoral things in their time. Isn't the HOF based on the players performance on the field? Should the steroid era players be voted into the Hall of Fame?

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      BLACKANDGOLDJACKposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think the issue is whether what you are doing could influence the outcome of games. I don't see what Pete Rose did had any effect on the outcome of games. Players who obviously used roids is an entirely different matter. They tried to cheat, and to some extent, some of them were successful. I remember Barry Bonds and his little head when he played with the Pirates and I remember him with his big head when he played with the Giants.

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      1. 86

         Alphadogg16posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I completely agree with you BGJ, Although I don't condone Pete Rose's gambling against his own team, but it had nothing to do with his performance on the field, which is what the Hall of Fame is based on.

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2. 47

   vinelinerposted 11 years ago

   Pete says he never bet on his team to lose. I can think of several ways that betting on the team you are managing to win can be manipulated. So how can you increase the odds on the games you bet on? Abuse the pitching staff on that night, and not worry about tomorrow night's game. Keep your best fielders/hitters in for that game, then give them the next night off, etc. He does not deserve consideration any more than the PED users do. There should be a separate wing in Cooperstown called the Hall of Shame for Pete Rose and the current bunch of PED cheaters.

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      Stevennix2001posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah, I agree with you completely that there are a lot of ways that Pete could've cheated while gambling on his own team.  Heck, he could've easily have taken out a pitcher, when he was on a hot streak, whenever it was favorable to a bet he was making.
      
      Therefore, as much as people may hate me for saying this, but Pete Rose does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.  I honestly don't care what his stats say.  The bottom line, he gambled and cheated.  Period.  Screw him.  Besides, gambling is illegal in most states, so technically speaking shouldn't he be in jail?  Just saying.
      
      As for the PED users, I think that's a bit iffy to be honest.   As far as I know, PED aren't illegal in most states.   Granted, you can call it cheating, and in a sense it is.  Sure, Barry Bonds does have a point that it doesn't affect a person's hand eye coordination, when he tried to justify it.  However, it does affection muscle mass, and the power of a swing.  Meaning that hypothetically if he wasn't on steroids, then some of those home runs would've been possibly pop fly balls or possibly just singles or doubles considering the hits probably wouldn't have the power to hit a ball out of the park. 
      
      But then again, it's also been revealed that Roger Clemens was on steroids too during his career.  Therefore, that begs the question...how many MLB players were on PED during that era?  Granted, if it was only a select few, then I'd say keep them out of the HOF, BUT it seems like we're finding out each day that more and more players were using it than we were originally believed.  Heck, at this point, i wouldn't be surprised if all the players from that era were on them, as MLB didn't have any strong PED policies back then.  Therefore, you can't blame the players entirely for that.
      
      And what if almost all the players were on it back then during that era, then what are you going to do?  Black ball all of them?  Ignore their stats.  But on the other hand, I can see the other side of things too, so it's an iffy situation.
      
      However, what about players that we're finding out now that used to use PEDs like Alex Rodriguez, who seems to be still playing, as he tries to rebuild his image by playing without PEDs allegedly.  And for the sake of argument, lets pretend he has a HOF career after trying to rebuild his image.  Would you want him in the HOF because of what he accomplished after he played the rest of his career clean?  Or would you still want to black ball him anyway because he used PEDs at some point in his career?  And if you do black ball him, then why does everyone forgive players when they redeem themselves like that?  When retired players like Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa and etc can't?  It's not their fault injuries keep them from wanting to play longer, so why can't we forgive them?

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3. 54

   ocbillposted 11 years ago

   PED guys should be edited out of the HOF. Gambling on games you participate in is illegal and you be arrested.

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