For a long time now, Pete Rose has been in the eye of controversy in regards to baseball. Despite holding the all-time record in career hits (4256 hits), he was denied entry into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame when he admitted to betting on baseball games. Yes, I know that any baseball fan who knows anything would know this…but now Pete Rose has a whole new accusation coming his way.
Corked bats.
One of the most infamous cases of corked bats in our time came with Sammy Sosa. On June 3, 2003, Sosa, who was a Chicago Cub at the time, was ejected in the first inning of a game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays when the umpire discovered that Sosa’s bat was corked. Afterward, many of Sosa’s bats were apparently examined, but no cork was found in any of them. Nonetheless, his reputation was tarnished after this game.
Pete Rose’s reputation was also tarnished once he admitted to betting on professional baseball games while he was a player and a manager, and did cost him eligibility to baseball in general. This could be construed as a knock on his personal character, but if he did indeed use corked bats, he, just like Sosa, would also be knocked (no pun intended) as a player. Rose already has enough trouble trying to get into the Hall of Fame with his already proven gambling, and I feel that this, if indeed proven true, would only hurt his cause.
You be the judge.
