All bets off on Rose for the hall of fame
NEW YORK—
Pete Rose’s eligibility for the baseball writers’ hall of fame ballot expired yesterday when the 2006 candidates were announced, a group that includes Cy Young Award winners Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden.
Albert Belle, Will Clark and Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen were among 14 firsttime candidates on the 29- man ballot. Bruce Sutter is the holdover who came closest to election last year, 43 votes shy.
Following an investigation of his gambling, Rose agreed in August 1989 to a lifetime ban. The hall’s board of directors voted unanimously in February 2001 that anyone on the permanently ineligible list couldn’t appear on the ballot.
Rose, baseball’s career hits leader, applied for reinstatement in September 1997 and met with commissioner Bud Selig in November 2002.
His efforts to end his suspension appeared to falter after he admitted in his 2004 autobiography, Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars,
that he bet on the Cincinnati Reds while managing the teams in the late 1980s.
First- year candidates include pitchers Rick Aguilera, Alex Fernandez, Doug Jones and John Wetteland and infielders Gary DiSarcina, Gary Gaetti, Gregg Jefferies, Hal Morris and Walt Weiss. To gain election, a player must be selected on 75 per cent or more of the ballots. Gooden was the NL rookie of the year season in 1984 and won the Cy Young the following year after going 24- 4 with a 1.53 ERA. Hershiser won the Cy Young in 1988, when he pitched a record 59 consecutive scoreless innings during the regular season, then was selected MVP of the NL championship series and the World Series.
Belle led the AL in RBIs three times and finished a .295 batting average, 381 homers and 1,239 RBIs. Clark had a .303 career average, 284 homers and 1,205 RBIs. Guillen was AL rookie of the year in 1985.