The people have spoken: Pete Rose is the biggest Hall of Fame snub
The Pete Rose nostalgia is running at an awfully high level this month. Between the All-Star game in Cincinnati, where he made a rare on-field appearance, and Sunday’s Hall of Fame inductions, always a springboard for Rose talk, the Hit King is getting a lot of attention.
When we asked people to name their biggest Hall of Fame snubs of all-time, we didn’t have much doubt what the answer would be. We know the score. Pete Rose is the People’s Champ of the Hall of Fame. Baseball may never let him in, but a whole lot of people wish he were there.
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As you’ll see in the chart below, Charlie Hustle ran away with the voting. Anecdotally, based on e-mails, comments and Twitter replies, we can tell you no player inspires more passionate discussion than Rose.
Take this data for what you will. It’s unscientific and unofficial. Despite what some e-mailers thought, this doesn’t actually lead to a Hall of Fame plaque. It was just a fun exercise to get people talking about the Hall of Fame outsiders.
Rose is a different case than most, in that he’s banned from baseball and would need two things to happen before he were ever allowed in Cooperstown. First, MLB would have to lift the ban, then Hall of Fame voters would have to approve his entry.
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At least one of our experts is in favor of that. In addition to the poll, we asked six of our Yahoo Sports baseball writers to name their top Hall of Fame snub. Here are their replies and rationale.
Hall of Fame voters have gotten it right for many years. The greatest players are in, with some self-inflicted exceptions. The very good are not, with a few borderline exceptions. If anything, the Hall is overcrowded, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for snubs, but we’ll leave a place on the wall for the guy with the most hits. As long as he promises not to talk about it anymore. Pete Rose did some dopey things, some potentially game-damaging things, some apparently criminal things, and history will remember him for those, too. But first he should be remembered on a plaque for 4,256 hits, because that was the player Pete Rose was. The rest of it? That can go in the second sentence. — Tim Brown
Barry Bonds is arguably the greatest player ever, inarguably one of the five greatest ever, the all-time career and single-season home run king, a hitter whose brilliance grows more impressive as time separates us from it. In the eyes of many — and enough voters to keep him out of the Hall of Fame — Bonds’ steroid use disqualifies him from the game’s greatest honor. And while that is its prerogative, it is a lesser place without him. The Hall isn’t a shadowbox; it is the place that honors the greatest players and tells the truth about their warts, and Bonds’ wouldn’t look out of place on a witch. Acting like what Bonds did is any different from many of his peers, however, isn’t just ignorant. It’s unfair. The public, media included, might know 5 percent of the truth, and punishing those whose reality happened to leak while hiding behind ignorance to potentially enshrine others is an abdication of duty. History is unimpeachable. A Hall of Fame without Barry Bonds tries to ignore it and fails in the process. — Jeff Passan
The only reason Tim Raines is not in the Hall of Fame is because he was overshadowed by Rickey Henderson. If Henderson is the best leadoff hitter of all time, Raines is a close second. There’s an argument to be made that, from 1981 to 1990, Raines was one of the best players in the game. He hit .302, with a .391 on-base percentage, and stole 627 bases over this period. By WAR, Raines ranks first over that time frame. A big part of Raines’ value was his ability to take a walk, something that wasn’t valued as highly during his era. With hindsight, we know just how valuable Raines’ ability to get on base was, particularly for a leadoff man. He was an incredible leadoff man who was overshadowed by the best. That shouldn’t be enough to keep him out of the Hall. — Chris Cwik
Edgar Martinez’s offensive numbers are absolutely Hall of Fame worthy — a .312 career average, an OBP of .418, more than 300 home runs and 500 doubles despite only breaking through as an every day player at 27 years old. There are few in the history of the game that have mashed like Martinez. The only reason the seven-time All-Star and two-time AL batting champion hasn’t been enshrined yet is because he played most of his career as a full-time DH and he’s being penalized for not providing much defensive value. Yes, defense is important. But Martinez more than made up for not playing the field with his terrific offensive production. It’s about time he got his due. — Israel Fehr
Jeff Bagwell, by the numbers that often measure such things, should be a Hall of Famer. But Bagwell, because of the era he played in, may not make it. Last year, Bagwell got 55.7 of the necessary 75 percent of the vote needed for Cooperstown. And that’s in a year where longtime teammate Craig Biggio was voted in. Using JAWS, a useful tool for comparing Hall of Fame cases, Bagwell is nearly 10 points better than the enshrined average player at his position. The average JAWS for first basemen is 54.2, while Bagwell scores 63.9. This isn’t so much about numbers, though, as it is voters questioning whether Bagwell is clean. Some people believe he wasn’t, though he never failed a test or was disciplined by MLB for PEDs. Leaving out proven cheats is one thing, but Bagwell getting snubbed just doesn’t seem right. — Mike Oz
Minnie Minoso was everything that a Hall of Famer should be and more. As a player, he performed at an elite level for an extended period, joining Willie Mays as the only players to hit 100 homers and steal 100 bases, all while maintaining a .300 average during the 1950s. More importantly, Minoso was a true pioneer who persevered and achieved his excellence at a time when baseball was reluctant to accept minorities. He helped break down barriers, and until his death in March, remained one of the game’s greatest ambassadors. Minoso made an impact over seven decades that can’t be truly measured or calculated, but definitely deserves to be honored. Sadly, after falling short on the ‘Golden Era’ ballot in 2014, he won’t be eligible again until 2017. — Mark Townsend
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
