Baseball: boggs, sandberg want rose in HOF

after what pete rose did there is no way he belongs in the hall

Hall of Famers Boggs and Sandberg ready to vote for Cooperstown

By HAL BOCK, AP Sports Writer
January 5, 2005


NEW YORK (AP) -- New Hall of Famers Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg have their own list of candidates to join them in Cooperstown, and it includes Pete Rose.

Boggs and Sandberg celebrated baseball's ultimate honor Wednesday, and talked about players they thought belonged in the Hall of Fame with them, mentioning sluggers Jim Rice and Andre Dawson, and relievers Bruce Sutter and Rich Gossage.

Rose, the career hits leader, remains on baseball's ineligible list after admitting he bet on games while managing Cincinnati in the late 1980s. Unless commissioner Bud Selig reinstates him by late November, there is no plan by the Hall of Fame to place him on the 2006 ballot, which would be his final chance for consideration by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

``He's several steps away,'' Hall president Dale Petroskey said. ``That's step one, and that's up to the commissioner.''

Rose, who agreed to the ban in 1989, applied for reinstatement in 1997 but Selig has not ruled and refuses to say when or if he will.

``I patterned my game after Pete,'' said Boggs, who had a .328 career average and 3,010 hits. ``When you look at what he accomplished -- he's the hit king. Without him, there's a void in the Hall of Fame. He needs to be there.''

Sandberg, whose .989 fielding percentage is the highest for a second baseman, also supports Rose.


``I understand the situation, with all he's gone through,'' Sandberg said. ``It's a matter of time before baseball excuses him, and he gets in with 4,000-plus hits.''

Boggs easily gained election in his first year of eligibility, receiving 474 of the 516 votes cast, at 91.86 percent well over the 75 percent required. Sandberg made it in just his third year on the ballot, getting 393 votes, just six over the 387 needed.

Both did a little electioneering for old teammates.

``Jim Rice,'' Boggs began, ``In my opinion, there was not a more feared hitter in baseball. When he walked to the plate and stared at the pitcher, you knew he was going to hit the ball hard and drive in important runs for us.''

Rice, who had 382 homers and 1,451 RBIs in 18 years with the Boston Red Sox, finished fourth in the balloting with 307 votes, also trailing Sutter (344).

Sandberg mentioned Dawson, a teammate with the Chicago Cubs.

``Dawson was in the same category as Rice, `` he said. ``Four hundred home runs, gold gloves, the ultimate professional and a class act.

``Lee Smith, Sutter, Goose Gossage. I'd like to see more closers,'' he said. ``There's nothing better on a team than a big closer.''


Boggs also mentioned Bert Blyleven, who won 287 games in 22 seasons.

``Facing him ... he had the greatest curveball of all time. You look at statistics -- 3,000 hits, 300 wins, 500 home runs,'' he said. ``When you fall a little short, it takes a little longer. Eventually, they get in.''

Gossage (285) was fourth in the balloting, followed by Dawson (270), Blyleven (211) and Smith (200).

Boggs remembered his first brush with a Hall of Famer, when he was an 18-year-old in his first spring with the Red Sox meeting Ted Williams. Williams was thumbing through the bios of some of Boston's rookies.

``He said, `Kid, you know you walked twice as many times as you struck out in the minors,''' Boggs said. ``Then he said, `It's easier to hit in the big leagues.' And it was. The lights are better. The travel is better. The pitchers are around the plate.''

That began a long-term relationship with Williams and Boggs talking each year in spring training, sometimes about hitting, more often about fishing. They would discuss patience at the plate, discipline in the batter's box and knowing the strike zone.

``He didn't like my philosophy,'' Boggs said. ``He tried to make me change. He couldn't though

Good for them. They may want Rose in, Ming does not. End of story.

I would like to see Pete in Cooperstown as well.

What he did was wrong, very wrong. At the same time, what he did for baseball was priceless. He is far and away the all-time hits leader and he played the game as intense as anyone I've ever seen step foot on the diamond. The last few years in sports have undoubtedly shown us that pro athletes are far from perfect. Maybe they should remove Ty Cobb as he was known as a woman beater. If you think that sports Halls of Fame are filled with angelic athletes, then you must live under a rock. Wade Boggs was one of the best hitters I watched growing up and he said he modeled his game after Pete, do you think he was the only one? Pete was very influential in baseball both to other players and to the game itself and I think he should be in Cooperstown. I respect other's opinions who think he should remain banned, but I strongly disagree.

My question for ya'll - does Mark McGuire belong in the hall, when he becomes eligible?

i would like to see Rose in the HOF also, sure he was a gambler when he managed the club but that isn't what he would be in there for, he'd go in for his ability to hit the ball and run the bases. If Bud Selig wasn't comisioner he'd have been in first ballot. yet another reason Bud Selig needs to go. i should start a list.

granted that many of the sports stars are no angels, but there is no comparison between cobb being a wife beater, and rose's gambling, we will all agree what cobb did was wrong and that there is no excuse for that...what rose was doing compromised the integrity of the game, how many of his managerial decisions were made with the thoughts of his bet for the day in the back of his mind? he was calling his bookie from the dugout phone!!!! there should be no plaque for pete

Now i don't know enough about Pete Rose to make a serious comment about him. But will the players who have been caught drug taking and those who might get caught in the future be allowed into the Hall of Fame...Like Barry Bonds?

imo they should all be banned from the hall as well, the atheletes who deserve to be enshrined should be the ones that excel on a LEVEL playing field, when a player is on the juice it is no longer a level field

Originally posted by TRD
Now i don't know enough about Pete Rose to make a serious comment about him. But will the players who have been caught drug taking and those who might get caught in the future be allowed into the Hall of Fame...Like Barry Bonds?

yeah man, that's what I was hinting at. Mark was using drugs that were not banned at the time, but later were. Isn't that cheating, just the same? Doesn't that throw the integrity of the game out the window?

at least mark was using an over the counter supplement that was widely available and legal, the ones who are using illegal steriods, are the ones who should be banned, they are illegal, they know they are illegal, and they hide the fact that they are using them....

All I know is, I wasn't a fan of baseball when I was growing u. I've tried to follow it over the past 15 years or so, but it just keeps on rearing it's ugly head on me. I don't know if I can ever really be a fan of this game. And I feel that Rose should be in the hall, the numbers prove it., IMHO.