5/14/25: Mo Egger on Pete Rose.

Pete Rose has a chance of getting his plaque in Cooperstown, but couldn't he have gotten a chance at a Hall of Fame moment?

Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.

Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.

Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen

Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger

Follow on X: @MoEgger

Instagram too: @MoEgger

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So Pete Rose is off Baseball's permanently ineligible list, along
with shoeless Joe Jackson and a whole bunch of nineteen
nineteen White Sox players. Pete Rose off Baseball's permanently ineligible list,
which means he's now eligible to be inducted into Baseball's
Hall of Fame. And whether he is or not is
kind of a separate story, but the language used Rob
Manfred in his letter to Pete Rose's attorney, the guy

(00:23):
who has been working to make this happen, Rob Manfred writes, quote, Obviously,
a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat
to the integrity of the game. That's Rob Manfred, a
threat to the integrity of the game. Let's be honest
about a couple of things here. It's been a long time,
a long time since Pete Rose represented a threat to

(00:45):
the integrity of the game. A long time. Also, let's
be honest about this. For decades now, whenever we've talked
about Pete Rose and reinstatement by Baseball, the conversation has
been about one thing. It's been about Cooperstown, been about
the Hall of Fame, hasn't been about him coming back
and managing the reds or coaching first base and collecting

(01:07):
shin guards and elbow pads and batting gloves. It hasn't
been about, Hey, Pete's going to be reinstated and he
can start interviewing for GM jobs. That's never been what
reinstatement has been about. It's been about one thing, one thing,
the Hall of Fame. And so I can't help I
can't help but go down this road. So Baseball says, well,

(01:30):
he no longer represents a threat to the integrity of
the game. So he is effectively now eligible for the
Hall of Fame, which he may get in, he may
not If he does get in, though he's not going
to be there. And I think Hall of Fame induction
ceremonies when the inductee is not there are really sad.
I don't think they're celebrations. Ken Riley a couple of

(01:51):
years ago in Canton. Look, I'm thrilled that he got in.
I watched that ceremony. His son gave a beautiful speech.
Ken Riley should have been there for that. That should
have been done years before, and it should have been
a celebration. Instead, Ken's speech was almost a eulogy. It
wasn't a celebration. Same thing. Like people have used this example,
and there are others. Barry Larkin went in in twenty twelve.

(02:12):
I was so stoked. But what hungover that entire induction
ceremony was Ron Santo's induction that he wasn't there for
because he had passed, and his widow gave a speech,
and it was it was moving, it was beautiful, it
was touching. It was also a eulogy, and that occasion
was sad. I don't think, if you can help it,

(02:33):
a Hall of Fame induction ceremony should be a sad occasion.
I think it should be a celebration. Without the inductee,
it's not a celebration. And so I don't know, man,
I hope this makes sense. Could Baseball have not said
ten years ago, Okay, Look, he's coming off the list
because he no longer represents a credible threat to baseball's integrity.

(02:57):
He's not coming back and working in the sport. He's
not going to be in the dugout. He's not gonna
be on the field, he's not gonna be making trades
and putting together rosters. And so we're gonna give him
a shot, and we're basically gonna say to the Hall
of Fame, he's yours now in the Hall of Fame,
and its process can determine whether or not Pete gets in,
but he at least has a chance to be there,

(03:18):
which means his induction at least has a chance to
be a celebration and not something that's well, frankly's sort
of funeral real, so to speak. And so fine, maybe
Pete's gonna have a plaque in Cooper's town. I certainly
believe he deserves one. But I think everybody, whether it's Pete,

(03:39):
say what you want about him, and I've said a
lot of things, whether it's his family or frankly, his fans,
this city. I think an actual induction ceremony that was
a celebration, was something that he should have a shot at,
and was something that this city should have a shot at.
And the moment Pete rose past, that shot went out

(04:00):
the window. And so with what Baseball has done today
acknowledging we're doing this because he's no longer a threat
to Baseball's integrity. He wasn't ten years ago. They could
have done this ten years ago and then given Pete
and all his fans a chance at an induction ceremony
that's actually a celebration