Baseball legend Pete Rose’s demise has brought on some uncomfortable questions. Undoubtedly, the biggest one is about Rose’s place in baseball history. Will he always be a pariah or is Cooperstown a possibility for Rose? Multiple opinions have emerged on this question, however, Fay Vincent’s beliefs have remained constant. Despite his glorious career, the former MLB Commissioner still believes that Pete Rose’s betting controversy is too big to ignore.

Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose had been one of the sport’s biggest stars during his heyday. With 17 All-Star nods and 4,256 hits – “The Hit King” sits atop all hitters. However, all of that came to naught when MLB caught Rose betting on his own team’s games. That controversy forced Rose to accept a voluntary ban from baseball and thus, ended his stint with America’s favorite pastime. Fay Vincent was serving as the deputy commissioner during that whole fiasco. 

“Do I think he belongs in the Hall of Fame?” Vincent explained, adding, “I don’t think anybody who participates in corruption of the game as he did belongs in the Hall of Fame, I think there should be a moral dimension to honors.” Vincent further noted that while Pete Rose has huge accolades, honoring someone who took part in “corruption” isn’t something he supported. However, according to him, Rose did have an opportunity to clear his name but he missed that boat.

Vincent explained that had Pete Rose accepted his mistake immediately, the baseball world would’ve looked at him rather positively. “If he’d done that, he would have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago. But instead, he played a very hard game,” Vincent said to the Athletic. The former commissioner wondered whether it was because Rose feared losing money, especially because he had made several losing bets over the years. But while that was a rather dark chapter in Rose’s story, it can’t be denied he was an icon without many peers. Perhaps that’s why Vincent believes baseball can honor Rose differently.

Can MLB find a way to honor Pete Rose?

While Fay Vincent didn’t believe that a Hall-of-Fame nod should be given to Pete Rose, he did say that MLB can find a way to do something else. “Eventually baseball will figure out a way to honor people within limits, in a separate category. So it would be sort of a tarnished honor, but it will be a form of honor recognizing some of his achievements,” Vincent noted. However, is that really possible? As of now, the chances seem rather low.

Pete Rose had once said to Cincinnati Inquirer that if there’s “one thing” that he’d like to change, it’d be to not bet on baseball. Though the legend had always maintained that he never bet against his team, it didn’t have much effect on his perception. And now with the league trying very hard to control sports gambling, giving a Hall-of-Fame nod to Rose seems rather difficult. Despite players like Jose Canseco demanding for Rose to be nominated, the current reality makes it highly unlikely. 

But can it change in the future? As Fay Vincent noted, players like Rose, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez’s impact on the game cannot be understated. However, the controversies that followed them are unavoidable as well. So can a different way be found to pay honor to them without ignoring their controversial past? That’s something that time will tell.