Pete Rose and Who Gets to Judge

Pete Rose was one of my childhood idols. I was a 9-year-old boy who lived for baseball when the Big Red Machine beat the Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series. I was 10 when they swept the Yankees in the World Series the next year. Rose was the engine that made the machine go. No one ever played harder than Rose. He earned the nickname Charley Hustle for his energy on the field. I’ll never forget him running, not jogging, to first base when he drew a walk, or him diving into second or third base on a close play. I never saw anyone dive into a base before Pete Rose.

I remember the 44-game hit streak in 1978. I still have the New York Daily News from that day when he tied Wee Willie Keeler’s National League hit streak record. I remember well the 4,192nd hit of his career off the Padres Eric Show, passing Ty Cobb’s seemingly unbreakable hit record in 1985. He finished his career with 4,256 hits. If a player got 200 hits for 21 years, he’d still have less hits than Rose. Rose played until he was 44, winning three World Series titles, the third with the Phillies in 1980. He’s not only the all-time leader in hits, but also at-bats, games played, singles, and outs. He won three batting titles, one MVP, two Gold Glove awards, and was NL Rookie of the Year in 1963. He played in 17 All-Star games at a record five different positions. By any and every measure or metric, Pete Rose should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Unfortunately, Rose is just as well known for what he did after his playing career than during it. He became the manager of the Cincinnati Reds in 1984. In 1989, evidence showed that he gambled on baseball games, even on Reds games. Players and managers gambling on games is rightfully strictly prohibited because players and managers can affect the outcome of games. Commissioner Bart Giamatti suspended Rose from baseball for life, making Rose ineligible for the Hall of Fame.

Rose applied for reinstatement several times over the past several years, but each time Major League Baseball denied his request. Rose died on September 30, 2024, still an outcast from baseball and the Hall of Fame that he desperately desired.

I understand why MLB banned Rose. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him he refused to admit that he bet on games or show any remorse for it. It wasn’t until his 2004 autobiography that he finally admitted that he bet on Reds games, but maintained that he never bet against the Reds. His reluctance to come clean about his mistakes surely contributed to the ban and the subsequent refusals to reinstate him. In the 35 years since though, baseball has endured several cheating scandals.

Many players took steroids in the decades after Roses’ ban, and none of those players received bans. The Houston Astros cheated in the playoff in 2019 by having outfield cameras steal the opposing pitcher’s signs. Participants in the scandal communicated what pitch was coming by banging garbage cans a certain number of times before the pitch. None of those players received lifetime bans. MLB did not strip the Astros of the World Series title. Rose believed baseball treated him unfairly measured against these other scandals.

If I had been the Commissioner of baseball over the last few years as Rose entered his 80’s, I would have asked for a meeting with Rose. I would have told him that I would consider reinstating him to baseball if he did a few things. I’d ask him to admit everything he did that was against the rules. I’d ask him to show remorse not only for what he did, but for how he covered it up and then lied about it for years. I’d ask him to acknowledge that what he did tarnished baseball and shook the confidence of other players and fans alike. If he would do those things with a penitent heart, I think I’d have reinstated him, with credit for 35 years’ time served, and allowed him to be on the ballot for the Hall of Fame.

It's not a perfect solution, because the rules of baseball explicitly state that any player or employee (e.g. manager of the team), who bets on a game in which he can affect the outcome shall be declared permanently ineligible. Most baseball purists would reject my solution because Rose knew the punishment before he bet on games. I understand the purists’ position, but it leaves no room for grace. Should one mistake keep Pete out of the Hall forever, and who gets to judge? In Rose's case, the commissioner of Major League Baseball decided not to allow Rose back into baseball.

To shift the conversation to entry into heaven, one mistake, one sin, should forever ban us. But our God is a God of grace. My solution for how to handle Pete Rose is like how God deals with us and our sin. Our sin is a great offense to God. He has every right to give us not just a lifetime ban, but an eternal ban from His presence. But God devised a plan for how to handle our sin before the universe even began. The plan was for Jesus to come to earth, live a perfect life, die on a cross to pay for our sins, and then rise from the dead and ascend to heaven. God requires that we believe in Jesus for our salvation. We confess our sin, turn from it, and thank God for His grace. If we do those things, God does some accounting. He transfers the punishment we deserve from the debt-owed column of our ledger to Jesus’ ledger. Then He credits Jesus’ righteous, sinless life, and to our ledger. God promises us eternal rewards in heaven.

Baseball fans will forever debate whether Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. The standards to get in are very high. In fact, only 277 players, (counting the 2024 inductees), are in. It’s far easier to get into heaven than into Baseball’s Hall of Fame! We simply admit we are sinners, ask for God’s grace and believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God judges us "not guilty," though by human standards, we are guilty. I'm thankful that God gets to judge. 

I’ve visited the Baseball Hall of Fame a few times. I love baseball’s history. I could spend days there. But it’s nothing compared to heaven. I haven’t been to heaven yet, but I’m looking forward to eternity there. Are you? Trust God as your judge.