Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson Reinstated by MLB

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by bk400

I dunno, man. Maybe I'm a prude and a cultural philistine, but when you're a married 34 year old with kids and are accused of statutory rape -- and your best defense is (i) that the sex only started when the girl was 16 and (ii) the sex only occurred in a state where the age of consent happens to be 16 -- you're basically a douchebag. If they elect guys like this -- who were also banned for betting on baseball and convicted of tax evasion -- in the Hall of Fame, then they should also elect guys like Dale Murphy into the Hall.

That he was married and had kids is largely immaterial. Most likely she was 14 years old, though you can see why he would want to argue it didn't start until she was 16 and only happened in Ohio given that Ohio had the lowest age of consent at the time and that it just so happened to be the same age he's alleging she didn't realize she was.