FREE ESSAY ON PETE ROSE

PETE ROSE

Bart Giamatti's decision to ban Pete Rose from the Baseball Hall of Fame was not a fair
decision at all. Pete Rose was placed on Baseball's ineligible list in 1989 when
commissioner of baseball, Bart Giamatti concluded that Rose had bet on baseball games,
including games involving his own team, the Cincinnati Reds. In an agreement made with
Baseball, Rose accepted his banishment from the sport. Although he never admitted to
having gambled on baseball games(McCarver 44). Pete Rose was a phenomenal baseball player
and manager. He was accused of gambling. His team while he was managing was supposedly
involved. Bart Giamatti's severe punishment of Pete Rose is a very controversial topic in
the world of sports.
There are a few rules that must have been followed to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.
The one that is keeping Rose away is rule five. Rule five states: Voting shall be based
upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and
contributions to the team or teams on which the player played (Hemmer 85). This rule has
been tested and beaten many times. 
Many players have entered the Baseball Hall of Fame such as the very unllikeable Ty Cobb,
the drinking Babe Ruth, the umpire abusing John McGraw, the racist Cap Anson, Gaylord
Perry a suspected cheater, and the gambling Leo Durocher. Those are just a few of the
baseball players who somehow made into the Hall of Fame and got passed rule five (Will
225). Pete Rose's problem was not even as severe as all of these other men. The argument
to this is that if these men can make it into the Hall of Fame why is Pete Rose banned.
It is obvious that these players made it there with just their playing abilities and not
by all of the other characteristics needed to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (Will
226). 
Pete Rose started playing professional baseball in 1960 in the minor leagues and by 1963
he reached the Major Leagues as a rookie second baseman with the National League's
Cincinnati Reds. Rose won the National League's Rookie of the Year Award for 1963. He
spent most of his 24 year career playing with the Reds, Rose also played with the
Phillies and the Expos. In 1985 Rose broke one of the most "unbreakable" records of all
time, by passing out Ty Cobb for the most career hits ever (US fans n.p.). Rose holds
many records, some of which are: most games played, most at bats, and most singles by a
major league baseball player. All of these statistics are definitely Hall of Fame worthy
(Cosmic baseball n.p.).
Pete Rose denies that he ever bet on Major League baseball games. The commissioner of
baseball, Bart Giamatti, did not believe Rose at all. There is not any kind of proof that
directly led to Rose gambling. There is evidence that does lead to Rose gambling on
games, even ones involving the Cincinnati Reds (Reston 32). This evidence came from three
men who are former friends of Pete Rose. Tommy Gioiosa, Paul Janszen and Ron Peters were
a group of bodybuilders in a local gym in Cincinnati. All three of them used steroids to
make themselves physically big (Allen 158).
Gioiosa, Janszen, and Peters each was convicted of felonies. They were all involved in
illegal gambling, drug dealing (cocaine and steroids), and income tax evasion. Pete Rose
knew what kind of men these three were and broke away from them. It is possible that
these three men could have turned Rose in for some kind of pay back, because of the fact
that Rose stopped associating with them (Allen 160). How reliable are these men and their
information about Rose?
Pete Rose met Tommy Gioiosa in Florida in 1978. The two of these men became good friends.
Gioiosa moved to Cincinnati and lived with Rose and his family that year. Tommy Gioiosa
introduced Rose to the group of bodybuilders at the local Cincinnati gym. Among this
group was the gym's owner Mike Fry, and a bodybuilder Donald Stenger. Donald Stenger was
a big supporter of steroids. Tommy Gioiosa really bulked himself up with steroids that he
got from Stenger (Reston 58). When Rose was asked about gambling, the only name that was
said was Tommy Gioiosa. Gioiosa would be the one to know what really happened (McCarver
42).
In February of 1990 after refusing to speak about the investigation of Pete Rose to
baseball officials, and six months after Rose's banishment, Tommy Gioiosa was on a
Cincinnati talk show. On this show Gioiosa claimed that Rose did bet on baseball games.
By this time the two men were no longer friends. The investigation of this is if Tommy
Gioiosa is telling the truth or was he being revengeful (Scott 26). He might be paying
Rose back for having taking advantage of him, because Gioiosa claims that Rose frequently
borrowed money from him but never paid it back.
Paul Janszen played a major role in Major League Baseball's investigation of Pete Rose as
well. Tommy Gioiosa introduced Janszen to Pete Rose in October of 1986. A year later
Janszen would replace Gioiosa as being Pete Rose's "number one man". He was a shadow to
Rose. Paul Janszen and his girlfriend Danita Marcum went with Rose and his family to
Florida for the 1987 Spring Training season. During the 1987 baseball season, Janszen was
a frequent visitor to Rose's manager's office at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati
(Salisbury 55).
In March of 1988 Janszen was being investigated in connection with an FBI search into
drug dealing and income tax evasion. Other members of the local gym were involved and
Janszen began cooperating with the investigators. Janszen also needed a lawyer, and to
pay for this Janszen need to get back the $40,000 he had lent Rose the past year.
According to Paul Janszen Pete Rose only paid back $10,000. The rest of the money that
Janszen felt Rose owed him would never be coming (Salisbury 57).
After this Paul Janszen was feeling betrayed by Pete Rose, he then began answering
questions about him to the FBI investigators. Janszen plead guilty to a charge of income
tax evasion and because of his cooperation he received a light sentence of six months in
a halfway house. Paul Janszen had also talked to John Dowd who was leading the Pete Rose
investigation. Janszen had told this man in February of 1989 that Rose had bet on
baseball games. Janszen also provided documentary evidence in the form of betting sheets
that were written by Pete Rose (Salisbury 60-61).
Another friend of Pete Rose had also provided information to John Dowd; Ron Peters. Ron
Peters claims that in 1987 Rose would sometimes bet up to $30,000 a day on various Major
League baseball games. Peters was convicted of drug dealing and tax evasion (Hemmer 128).

Paul Janszen's and Ron Peter's testimony was said to be accurate by John Dowd. Dowd then
informed the commissioner Bart Giamatti and showed him the report. This 225 page report
plus 2000 pages of interviews and documents was released to the public in June of 1989.
Pete Rose was then interviewed after this release of the report and was asked what he
thought of everything. Rose responded, "I am guilty of one thing in this whole mess, and
that's I was a horse*censored* selector of friends." He was also asked what he thought of
the Dowd Report and he said it was a bunch of bull *censored* (Cosmic Baseball n.p.).
It is a fact that Pete Rose is a gambler. He admits that he gambled. On November 8, 1989,
he went on the Donahue TV talk show and told the world that he was a compulsive gambler
and that he was now getting professional help. Rose denied that he ever bet on baseball
games. When Rose was asked by the audience, if he is a big gambler how can he not gamble
on baseball games. He did not answer the question (Cook 218). 
Pete Rose was associated with gamblers and drug dealers, money obsession is associated
with this territory of people. It has been said if Pete Rose was a gambler, he had to
have gambled on Major League baseball games. Even though he said he had never bet on
baseball games many people do not believe him because he was a gambler and he is an
unreliable source to this case. In the report that John Dowd wrote, most of his sources
of information are from two convicted felons; Ron Peters and Paul Jenszen (Allen 195).
The biggest scare of this Pete Rose scandal is not the fact that he bet on games, it is
the possibility that the games were fixed. A writer for the Los Angeles times wrote that
betting on games is totally different from fixing games. This writer also points out that
the 1919 Black Sox were crooks, Pete Rose is just an addict (Scott 26).
Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt, a former teammate of Rose's in Philadelphia thinks Rose
should be in the Hall of Fame as well. At Schmidts induction ceremony in 1995 he publicly
said, "I hope some day, some day soon, Pete Rose will be standing right here, I know you
all agree with me on that. Pete stood for winning (Scott 26)."
A former major league umpire Dave Pallone, on March 15, 1996 said, "I don't know whether
he bet on baseball or not, but he certainly has paid for any mistakes he may have made.
He has admitted he has a gambling problem and baseball has given numerous chances to men
with alcohol and drug sickness and they should allow Pete Rose to come back." This is
ironic because, Pete Rose was suspended for thirty days in 1998 when he shoved Dave
Pallone during a game between the Reds and the Mets. Pallone still believes that Rose
should be in the Hall of Fame (Scott 26).
Former United States President Jimmy Carter published an article on October 30, 1995. It
was about Pete Rose's scandal and forgiving him. Carter wrote, "I find the testimony
(mostly from convicted felons) about Pete Rose's betting on sports events to be
convincing and disheartening, but evidence about betting on baseball is less than
compelling." Jimmy Carter wants the American Public to forgive Pete Rose and to give him
a chance in the Hall of Fame (Scott 26).
Bart Giamatti banned Pete Rose from baseball because he believed that he had broken the
cardinal rule of baseball and bet on baseball games. The day after Giamatti banned Rose
from baseball, Giamatti held a press conference. He said that the matter of Pete Rose is
now closed. It will be debated and discussed. Let no one think Rose has hurt the game, it
will pass, and the game will go forward. Bart Giamatti made it clear that Rose was
forever banished from baseball and he will never have another chance (Reston 12).
When Pete Rose was place on the ineligible list in 1989, the Hall of Fame rule number
three said that any player on Baseball's ineligible list shall not be eligible for the
Hall of Fame. According to the current version of Baseball's rules, Rose can be eligible
for the Hall of Fame by getting of the banishment list. No one in the history of Major
League Baseball has been able to get off the list. Pete Rose can petition Baseball's
powers to get off the list. Once he is off the list, he can be considered for the Hall of
Fame (Reston 303).
No one is sure if it is Pete Rose's goal in life to be in the Hall of Fame. It might be
hard but it is possible that Rose can be taken off the ineligible list. If he really
wants to be in the Hall fame, he has the chance (Reston 304).