Pete Rose creates dilemma for Hall of Famers

Growing up in Dayton, Mike Schmidt grew up idolizing Pete Rose. His grandmother had a poster of the all-time hit king in her house, using that poster as a model when she was sewing Schmidt's uniforms.

"They would give you baggy pants back then, and I wanted them as tight as Pete," Schmidt recalls.

So it's not surprising that one of the best third basemen of all time says it's time for Rose to be reinstated into baseball.

Rose's former teammate and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench has much different feelings. Bench, the legendary Cincinnati catcher, reasons that if Rose is allowed back into the game, the value of rules are worthless, especially to kids.

Indeed, the issue appears to have divided anew the all-time greats, as the possibility of Rose being reinstated became a possibility again this year. Rose reapplied for reinstatement after new commissioner Rob Manfred took office, and Manfred said he would consider the request and even meet with Rose.

For reference, it's important to understand that the Hall of Fame passed a rule in 1991, the year before Rose would have been eligible for a vote, that anyone on the ineligible list could not be in the Hall. If Manfred chooses to allow Rose back into the game, even conditionally, it would be entirely up to the veterans' committee at the Hall of Fame to decide whether to let Rose into Cooperstown. That's because his eligibility to be voted on by the baseball writers expired years ago.

So now, if Rose is reinstated, the decision about the Hall rests in the hands of baseball's elite.

Schmidt is a staunch supporter of Rose. He even worked behind the scenes to get Rose audiences with former baseball commissioner Bud Selig in late 2002.

"I've always been positive about forgiveness," said Schmidt, who played with Rose for the Philadelphia Phillies for five seasons between 1979-84. "And his example has been strong enough now – for the 26 years now that he's been banned from baseball. That's a strong example to anyone who might consider gambling on the sport, whether they be a a player or an administrator."

Bench, on the other hand, was inducted into the Hall of Fame the same year that Rose was banned from baseball for gambling on the sport while managing the Cincinnati Reds.

In his 2008 book "Catch Every Ball: How to Handle Life's Pitches," Bench made it clear that the ban should stand when someone said Rose should be allowed into the Hall of Fame.

"You do? OK, then go home tonight and tell your kids that rules don't matter," Bench said. "That said, I still wish Pete Rose would recognize the problem he has had with gambling and get the help he has needed."

Bench has since repeated or reinforced those statements several times publicly, including in a text message to The Enquirer last week.

Ironically enough, former Reds second baseman and Hall of Famer Joe Morgan currently chairs the veterans' committee. Morgan declined an interview request from The Enquirer for this story.

But in 2013, Morgan told ESPN that the line for Rose is fuzzy. He compared his former teammate's situation to that of other players, including Milwaukee Brewers' outfielder Ryan Braun, who was suspended for using performance enhancing drugs.

"Pete did a bad thing. … He broke baseball's cardinal rule," Morgan said two years ago. "And he shouldn't have taken 10 years to come clean. But he never cheated the game. Yet he's out 24 years as opposed to [Ryan] Braun getting 65 games? That just doesn't seem right to me."

Others, like Schmidt, agree.

"His example has served its purpose and everyone knows now this is the kind of penalty you will receive," Schmidt said. "What Pete could do for baseball as someone who served this sentence and learned from it would be incredible."

Schmidt recalls when Rose acknowledged that he was sorry for his actions, but that he had a hard time showing it.

"He's just not the kind of guy, like I am, who would be down on his knees crying and begging for forgiveness," Schmidt said. "But he assured me he was remorseful and was changing his ways and I believed him."

Fellow Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith, the former great St. Louis Cardinals shortstop, also says enough time has passed to prove baseball's point.

"For the commissioner at the time (Bart Giamatti) to take down someone as great as Pete, and for baseball to be willing to do that to one of its biggest figures, sent a message to everyone else that they took gambling in baseball very, very seriously," Smith said. "It was sort of a precedent for it. And it worked ... no one since then has been involved in anything like this.

"That's a big enough deterrent. Pete's a baseball man," Smith said, "and if there is a lesson to be learned from this, then I think Pete learned that lesson."

In an interview with The New York Times earlier this year, former Brewers great Paul Molitor said that the rule against betting on baseball is invalidated if Rose is allowed back.

"The one rule that is read in every clubhouse, every spring training, for I don't know how many decades, has been made clear that, if this is violated, this is the consequence," said Molitor, who now manages the Minnesota Twins. "Now, if they decide to make a change in the stance that they've taken to this point, you are going to say that every time we read that, we really didn't mean it."

Molitor was inducted in 2004, the same year Rose went to Cooperstown to promote his book in which he admitted to betting on baseball. He declined an interview about Rose with The Enquirer.

"We all know he's not getting younger," Molitor said in the Times article. "But to me, that's the question that baseball has to face. We have tried to make this such a clear-cut thing. But you're going to say, 'If you're the all-time hit leader, it might not be like that?' That's the debate. That's why, I think, it's tough for baseball to change it."

Some baseball writers have wondered if Rose was indeed elected to the Hall, if some Hall of Famers would boycott his induction ceremony. Schmidt and Smith downplay any worries about a possible public relations disaster.

"Back in 1995 when I was elected, it probably would have been 70-30 against Pete," Schmidt said. "Now I wouldn't be so sure with all the steroid stuff. And so much time has gone by that a lot of the newer inductees like (former Braves pitcher) John Smoltz and others know the story, but weren't there like guys like me and (Kansas City Royals great) George Brett.

"So who knows? I, for one, would welcome him if he is put in."