Pete’s Plaque

BY KEVIN KERNAN

I‘m betting Pete Rose gets into the Hall of Fame.

It should end that way because of Pete’s immense on-field accomplishments. Pete Rose’s fans deserve to see Pete’s Plaque in the Hall of Fame. His family, including Pete Jr. deserve that honor.

So many people, especially in the media, seem to forget that the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is there for the fans. Yes, it is a business but all you have to do is spend five minutes in the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery to see all the smiles on fans’ faces when they come across the plaque of their baseball hero.

That is what the Hall of Fame is all about. It is a place of celebration. It is a place of wonderful memories. It is a place where baseball dreams come alive.

I have spent many hours in that plaque gallery and there is nothing better than the reception the Hall of Fame holds on the night before the induction ceremony when you walk around and see all the Hall of Famers who return for the ceremony, seated at their little tables with family and friends, directly in front of their plaques.

The plaques come alive in those moments.

There are many Hall of Famers that I have done this with over the years – talk to them in front of their plaques – and sadly, many of those Hall of Famers are no longer with us; but at that moment, when they are standing in front of their plaques, that truly is Baseball Heaven.

And that is what the Hall of Fame is all about.

He never had the chance to be on the BBWAA ballot because of his betting past and being placed on the permanently ineligible list in 1991, and, yes, that is on Pete Rose for betting on baseball.

I have mentioned before that I was once lucky enough to walk the Hall of Fame with the great Hank Aaron and have him tell me about his memorabilia that is in the Hall.

That was special. I did the same with Goose Gossage and Tony Gwynn, walked the Hall with them.

In the Plaque Gallery all the legends walk in their bronze shadow.

While those Saturday night celebrations were going on through the years in the Hall, Pete Rose was always halfway down Main Street, signing autographs in the back of a baseball collectibles store. It was a stark reminder that The Hit King was not in The Club. He never got the formal invite. He never had the chance to be on the BBWAA ballot because of his betting past and being placed on the permanently ineligible list in 1991, and, yes, that is on Pete Rose for betting on baseball.

I had multiple conversations with Pete in the back of that store; Pete would love to talk baseball and was engaging but it also was sad that he was not where he belonged just up Main Street. He would put on a good front about being able to make big money selling his autograph because he was NOT in the Hall of Fame, that was the businessman in him – but deep down you knew the ballplayer in him wanted to be in that Plaque Gallery, swapping stories and memories with his baseball buddies.

Here we are in 2025, and Rob Manfred and MLB is in bed with betting on baseball in a much different way than Pete Rose, and that is one of the reasons I believe Pete Rose should in the Hall of Fame, a baseball museum … not a museum of sainthood.

Manfred’s betting on baseball is sanctioned through betting partners and I am not going to mention them here, but they are out there, and you can’t watch a game without being hammered over the head with the latest parlays you can bet or the ever-changing odds on the game.

Just think of the money baseball could have made in Pete Rose’s day if it were like today. You could bet on Pete Rose and when he would break Ty Cobb’s record for the most hits in baseball history.

It is all so hypocritical and ridiculous.

So now Manfred has ruled that a person’s place on the permanently ineligible list expires upon their death. Now, the Baseball Ghosts who were not allowed to be voted on for the Hall of Fame because they were on that list, including Shoeless Joe Jackson who died in 1951, 74 years ago, are eligible.

This certainly puts a new twist on Field of Dreams or Schemes.

MLB made plenty of money off Shoeless Joe with their Field of Dreams Game.

So, it goes.

Pete Rose died September 30 at the age of 83. Pete is dead but, like the others on the list who have passed on, he is now suddenly good to go to be voted on by the Classic Baseball Era committee when it meets in December 2027.

I’m betting Pete gets into the Hall of Fame and I have said this before simply because he has the most hits in baseball with 4,256. Put that on his plaque as well as his betting on baseball issues.

Problem solved.

Pete Rose is a huge piece of baseball history. Pete also has the most at-bats in baseball history with 14,053. Pete has the most plate appearances too with 15,890 and the most games played with 3,562. He made 17 All-Star teams and won three World Series, three batting titles and was NL MVP in 1973. There were 10 seasons Pete played in 160 or more games. In this era, players are so often injured. Not Pete. He persevered. And now he must once again persevere, this time from the grave.

Granted, Pete was no rocket scientist. I remember Pete the Reds manager telling me in 1988 about some issues he had in 10th grade at Western Hills High School in Cincinnati, a typical funny Pete Rose story but he stopped and added, “Was that the first time I was in 10th grade or the second time?’’

Pete never could figure it out, but man could the guy figure out baseball and hit like no one else in the game and hustle like no one else. Pete paid the betting on baseball price by never being listed on any Hall of Fame ballot. The door was slammed in his face.

When it came to playing the game, though, Pete Rose was a genius, and he switched positions whenever needed to help his team.

Hall of Famer Tony Perez, a teammate of Pete’s with the Big Red Machine, was on MLB Radio Wednesday, telling his son Eduardo and Steve Phillips, that Pete should be in the Hall of Fame.

Good for Tony. “Pete was the key to getting everything started,’’ Tony said, and, by the way, Wednesday was Tony’s 83rd birthday. “I want to see Pete in the Hall with all of us.’’

I’m hoping Tony Perez gets on the committee that will determine Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame future. A key will be to see who is placed on that committee of 16. Tony Perez deserves the chance to be on that committee and go to bat for his former teammate, who “got everything started.’’

Rose will have to get 12 of 16 votes. Depending on the makeup of the committee it still could be an uphill battle for Pete Rose.

I hope that the committee members realize that this is a baseball museum. They are not choosing the Pope. I hope the committee will realize that the Hall of Fame is there for the fans to celebrate baseball. So many people in baseball, in and around the game take themselves way too seriously.

Let Pete Rose’s on the field play speak for Pete Rose.

Let the joy that he brought to so many fans speak for Pete Rose.

As it so happened, the Reds played the White Sox Wednesday night at Great American Ballpark in what I call the Ineligible List Game. Pete Rose’s team vs. Shoeless Joe Jackson’s team playing one another on Pete Rose Night. No. 14 was everywhere at a packed house. The fans in Cincinnati love Pete Rose.

Yes, Manfred had his announcement planned perfectly from a public relations standpoint. Those fans cheering for Rose would like nothing better than to someday make the trip to Cooperstown, New York to see Pete’s Plaque in the Hall of Fame. They all know Pete bet on baseball. But they also know he was banned from the game and went to his grave not knowing if he would ever make the Hall of Fame to be reunited there with his Hall of Fame teammates.

When is a pound of flesh enough for Major League Baseball which, these days, is in total partnership with so many betting outlets decades after Pete Rose was banned for betting on the game. Baseball is bringing in more money from the betting houses than Pete the bettor could ever dream.

When can baseball fans just sit back and enjoy something great about the game like Pete Rose’s record number of 4,256 hits that will never be broken?

And for those who want to keep Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame, you did, you succeeded in his lifetime, and now in death, give it a rest. Move on. Go out and enjoy sunshine and God’s great gifts on this earth.

Tony Perez said he and Pete were like brothers. And that is the beauty of baseball, taking people from different parts of the world, putting them on a team, making them a championship team forever and brothers forever.

As for those who say the Pete Rose situation “is complicated.’’

It is not. Pete Rose got the most hits in baseball history. Period.

Charlie Hustle played the game hard and played it right. My gosh, the man sprinted to first base on every single one of his 1,566 walks over his 24-year career. Now we have “superstars’’ making $313.5 million like Rafael Devers refusing to even pick up a glove and play first base after the first baseman is lost to injury for the season.

Let all those who enjoyed Rose as a player, enjoy a Hall of Fame experience seeing their flawed superstar enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Let them get the chance to see Pete’s Plaque even though Pete Rose himself was never given that opportunity.

Reds fans don’t have a lot to cheer about these days and Rose remains in baseball purgatory until at least December of 2027.

Hopefully, baseball allows Pete Rose to have his Hall of Fame Day in the sun and have his family, including Pete Jr., enjoy Pete’s Plaque for the rest of their lives.

It is time to forgive Pete Rose the gambler, and celebrate the career of Pete Rose the ballplayer, the man with the most hits in baseball history.