Pete Rose documentary on HBO/Max 😬

[dbussell12]

Possibility for a much deeper conversation here far beyond Rose into what the hall of fame is and should be for. Something I have considered a fair bit. I personally enjoyed working at NMAH in the baseball archives far more than visiting the BBHOF in large part if not entirely due to how they treat baseball history -- more as American history; prioritizing the movements therein above baseball-tunnel vision into stats and individuals. Of course there are a great deal of exhibits that do this in the BBHOF at large, but this is generally not how the hall of fame considers and structures its arguments for players and candidates with rare exceptions like Effa Manley, et al

Personally consider that the HOF would do well accordingly to expand its vision and scope into how the sport intertwines with the larger social, political, and cultural movements that occur in, through, and with baseball itself. You'd have additional layers of evaluation and complexity beyond just simple stat modeling for candidacy. It would become a much richer and multidimensional undertaking; expand how people view the sport and the sport views itself -- more intertwined with the fabric of American history and its important economic and political movements therein; less navel gazing into its own performativity