Posted By:
Chris CountsI'm not condoning Rose's behavior, but I hate to see players left out of Hall of Fame for strictly moral reasons. There is just too much inconsistency with truly bad apples like Cobb and Durocher in Cooperstown. There were widespread rumors that Cobb and Speaker fixed games (not unlike steroid rumors of today that will keep players like Sammy Sosa out of the HOF). Bill James says Cobb and a 19th pitcher I can't recall actually committed murders. Hack Wilson and Gabby Hartnett openly consorted with Chicago underworld figures. I still maintain the HOF has — perhaps to its own demise in credibility — set its own standards and now it has to live with them. Just like Pete Rose has to live with consequences of his actions. If the HOF has no identifiable criteria, such as a standard of a player's greatness and his moral attributes — than what gives it credibility as an institution. Were the old bad guys not quite as bad as the new bad guys? I don't think so ...