CBS News: Sunday Morning: ‘Take Our Poll- Should Pete Rose be in the Hall of Fame’

Source:CBS News– Pete Rose, when he was with the Cincinnati Reds.

Source:The New Democrat

“The Reds’ announcement came after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred last month rejected Rose’s application for reinstatement. Manfred concluded that baseball’s career hits leader continued to gamble even while seeking to end the lifetime ban imposed in 1989 for betting on numerous Reds games while playing for and managing the team.
The Reds’ team hall of fame induction is planned for the weekend of June 24-26 in the 74-year-old longtime Reds’ hometown.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 adopted a rule keeping anyone on the permanently ineligible list off the ballot. Rose said after Manfred’s decision that he still held out hope he would one day be inducted into the national hall.”

From CBS News

The only reason why Pete Rose is not in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and he would’ve gone in I believe 1992 which I believe would’ve been is first year of eligibility, but the only reason he’s not there has to do with his gambling on Major League Baseball games. Which he gambled on even as manager of the Cincinnati Reds and even betted on Reds games. Pete being out of the Hall of Fame has nothing to do with his playing career and nothing to do with his playing career is keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.

I could understand banning Pete from ever being a MLB manager, coach or executive for life. Because betting on your own team’s games is a pretty bad offense. Especially if you are betting that they lose and have a say in the outcome of their games. But to keep him out of the Hall of Fame in general, when he’s arguably the best all around player of his era and generation and we are talking about a career that covers twenty-four seasons from 1963-86, makes no sense from a Hall of Fame perspective.

Keeping Pete out of the Hall of Fame also does more damage to Reds fans and the Cincinnati Reds organization than Pete. Because of all the respect and luster that comes from not just seeing one of your own players in the Hall of Fame, but having that person in the Hall of Fame. “That player was not just a great player, but he played for us and we won a lot of games with him and he’s in the Hall of Fame as one of us”. Things that the Reds organization and the Reds fans can’t say right now because they are denied of seeing Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame.

We are not talking about whether Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame as a manager or even as a human being. He would never make it to the Hall of Fame based on that criteria. We are talking about Pete Rose the player and based on his playing career and because of the facts that he’s the best player who’s been retired for at least five years from playing, not in the Hall of Fame. And of course what he did as a player would’ve put him in the Hall of Fame over twenty-years ago. Pete Rose should definitely be in the Hall of Fame. Just don’t allow him to manage or be an executive.

Read Full Post »

Howard Cosell Fan: Outside the Lines- Robert Lypsite: Interviews Howard Cosell (1991)

Source:Howard Cosell– Former ABC Sportscaster Howard Cosell, being interviewed by Robert Lipsyte in 1991.

Source:The New Democrat

“Howard Cosell: His Life and Times” aired on August 29, 1991 on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” series. This episode on Cosell was hosted by Robert Lipsyte, a New York Times sports columnist. The title is sometimes incorrectly cited as ‘The Life and Times of Howard Cosell.”

Lipsyte examines Howard Cosell’s impact on sports television in a way that hasn’t been done previously, and in a way that clarifies Cosell’s primary target, i.e. the listener. It was with the listeners that Cosell managed to transform sports. He coupled an attorney’s gift for debate with a cutting-edge voice that made listeners believe there was nothing more important than the sporting event they were watching.

Former ABC News chairman Roone Arledge said of Howard Cosell “He’s the garlic that makes the stew work.”

From Howard Cosell Fan

Howard Cosell was more than a great sportscaster, and he was at least to a certain extent, which I will get into later. But he was a great entertainer and a very intelligent and funny man as well. And those things tend to go together.

He had a great ability to see things immediately for what they were and quickly give an intelligent insight about them in a way that everyone could understand and even do it in a humorous way as well.

Howard was sort of the fan’s voice when it came to sportscasting. Not a pure play by-play man or a true expert analyst, someone who would not only watch the game, but give you an expert analysis of what happened and what it means and what to look for.

But what he would give you is a voice for the fans and what fans are seeing and what they may be thinking about it. But could put it in ways that most people couldn’t and put in a way where people would think: “Wow, that is what I was thinking, I just wish I could’ve said it like that.”

Those old ABC’s Monday Night Football games from the 1970s you had Frank Gifford as the play by-play man and I think he did a great job of that. But again he was also a former NFL player who was a Hall of Fame player who wasn’t just a play by play man, but someone who knew exactly what it meant and what he was seeing because he use to play the game professionally. And Don Meredith as the expert analyst who of course use to be the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s.

But they also had Howard Cosell, who gave the viewers and fans an expert fans perspective of what was going on in the game. What fans may have been thinking and many times we’re thinking, but couldn’t phrase those things in a way that only he could. Because they didn’t have Howard’s intelligence and sense of humor. Howard Cosell is the genuine article of sportscasting. There wasn’t a Howard Cosell before Howard Cosell and there hasn’t been someone like him since.

Read Full Post »

ABC Sports: MLB 1978- NLCS Game 4- Philadelphia Phillies @ Los Angeles Dodgers: Full Game

Source:ABC Sports– with the 1978 NLCS at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Al Michaels, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Bench with the call of the game.

Source:The New Democrat

“1978 NLCS Game 4 – Phillies vs Dodgers @mrodsports”

From Classic Phillies TV

This was a very good matchup for an NLCS between the Phillies and Dodgers because you had a more power-hitting offensive oriented team in the Phillies, going up against a pitching and defensive oriented team in the Dodgers that also had a very good lineup, with hitters like Steve Garvey, Reggie Smith, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker and others. And I think that was the difference in this series. The teams were fairly even, but the Dodgers had more pitching and I believe a more complete team than the Phillies.

On paper anyway, I think the Dodgers were better than the New York Yankees in 1978. I think they had more offensively and had just as must pitching. But the Yankees got better pitching and clutch hitting in the 1978 World Series and that was the difference.

You can’t really afford any off games in a World Series or a championship series. Which is what happened to the Phillies in the first two games of the NLCS losing both of them at home. And having to win three-straight at Dodger stadium to win the series.

Read Full Post »

ABC News: World News Tonight- David Muir: A-Rod Suspended Through 2014

Source:ABC News– New York Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez.

Source:ABC News

“Yankees still owe slugger Alex Rodriguez $61 million as he continues to fight to stay in the game.”

From ABC News

A lot of good those drugs did A-Rod in the last three seasons with declining skills and dealing with injuries. And what a year suspension will do to the legacy of someone who just ten years ago was thought of as the best all around baseball player in MLB at the time.

Whether its Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, and now Alex Rodriguez and unfortunately the list only gets longer, I’ve always had a hard time believing and let alone respecting, why athletes this big, strong, and talented, would feel the need to use steroids. When they’re already naturally very strong. A-Rod, Big Mac, and Jose, all came up as big, strong, athletes.

As far as A-Rod’s career, he’ll be 40 when he comes back in 2015. If he comes back that year, when he hasn’t had a good season since 2009. He’s been beat up the last few seasons and part of that is because he’s already aging and past him prime. The New York Yankees, are aging as far as their core group of players. Derek Jeter, would be another one and their great closer Mariano Rivera, is another one. All of their great players now are pushing 40. The Yankees haven’t done a great job of preparing for the future. Not saying A-Rod’s career is over, but he has been done as a great dominant hitter. And may never play 3rd base again.

I believe a lot of this has to do with great athletes thinking they’re untouchable that they won’t be suspended or sanctioned in any way, because they believe their team the league needs them more than they need their team and their league. And when you’re already worth 50-100 million or whatever A-Rod’s net worth is right now, maybe you believe it’s worth the risk, especially if the drugs pay off. But the problem is that A-Rod has been beat up and has seen is production fall. He doesn’t run and move the way he use to. He no longer has the great, dominant, bat speed. Teams can pitch to him instead of pitching around him. So the steroids he took didn’t do him a damn bit of good. And this will always be part of his legacy.

Read Full Post »

CBS News: ‘Tony La Russa Retires as St. Louis Cardinals Manager’

Source:CBS News– Tony La Russa: Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals (1996-2011) announcing his retirement as manager after winning the MLB World Series.

Source:The Daily Press

“Tony La Russa announced his retirement as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals three days after winning a seven-game world series against the Texas Rangers.”

From CBS News

The only thing keeping Tony La Russa out of the Hall of Fame as a manager was himself, because he’s been managing for 33 years consecutively, his whole career, and I believe he’s been the best manager in Major League Baseball that whole period, and that includes people like Tommy Lasorda, Billy Martin, Earl Weaver briefly, Bobby Cox. Joe Torre, Roger Craig, Jim Leyland, and many others. Some may say Joe Torre because of the championships: 4 World Series Championships, 6 American League Championships, 11 Eastern Division Championships, and 13 playoff appearances. Only Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox come close to those accomplishments in this time period.

But when Joe Torre was with the New York Yankees from 1996 to 2007, you could make a case that he had the best team in MLB every year he was there, especially from 1998 to 2007, but they came up short several times, as in 2001 losing to the underdog Phoenix Diamondbacks, 2003 losing to the underdog Miami Marlins, both in the World Series, 2002 losing to the underdog Anaheim Angels in the American League Championship, and 2004 blowing a 3-0 Series lead to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship, something that will always be hated by Yankee Fans and loved by Red Sox Fans. I know a few of those fans myself. And of course the Yankees always had the most money in this time period and could always basically put all-star teams together to win the World Series.

Other than the time period during which Tony La Russa was with the Oakland Athletics from 1988 to 1990 or 1991, he was there from 1986 to 1995, but in those 4 years you could make a pretty good case that the Athletics should have won at least three World Series if not four, because from 1988 to 1990 they had the best three teams in baseball. And they only won one World Series. Of course, one is better then nothing but in the two World Series that the Athletics lost in 1988 and 1990, they won a total of one game.

They lost 4-1 in the 1988 World Series to, I believe, the worst World Series Champion since 1969, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who only won something like 85 games that season. And of course you had the famous Kirk Gibson home run in game one to win that game against the best closer in baseball at the time, Dennis Eckersly. When Tony La Russa was in St. Louis with the Cardinals from 1996 to 2011, he didn’t always have the best team and he still won 7-8 Central Division Championships, three National League Championships, and two World Series, and made the playoffs 9-10 times again. When only four teams make the playoffs in each league, they may go up to 5-6 teams in 2012, but we’ll see.

Tony La Russa was the best manager in MLB in his era as well as today because of what he got out of his players for the most part, not including his time in Oakland, but definitely in St. Louis, a midsize market. But with a great fan base, if not the best in MLB, it was just a matter of when Tony La Russa would retire. That would determine when he was going into the Hall of Fame, because he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer in waiting.

Read Full Post »