Pete Rose: A Hall of Famer?

On September 11, 1985, the baseball world was watching as Pete Rose stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, just one hit away from baseball immortality. He was just one swing away from breaking Ty Cobb's record for the most hits in a career.

He stepped into the box at Riverfront Stadium in front of a crowd of 47,237 fans. Fans not necessarily of the Cincinnati Reds. But 47,237 baseball fans. And thousands upon thousands were watching from the confines of their own home. Or at the local sports bar. Watching. And waiting.

Then the moment arrived. Rose delivered a line drive single into right center field on a 2-1 slider. Even though I was just 12 years old at the time, I can remember the hit. I can remember the baseball great, known for his harsh no-holds bar style of play, crying on the baseball field.

Now, almost 20 years later, Rose was fighting back tears again. Not because of something that he had accomplished, but because of what hopefully was the real sign of regret and remorse. He was fighting back tears on national television as he admitted to betting on baseball, publicly, for the first time.

With the recent release of his book My Prison Without Bars, the baseball great has tried to make amends with the people associated with the national pastime. He has tried to sew together his broken life in baseball. And whether or not he is sincere about his confession and/or apology, well I'll leave that up to the sports commentators to debate.

However, a debate that will never be had is whether or not Rose is deserving of a place in the baseball shrine called the Hall of Fame. Well, that is people will not debate the fact he deserves to be there based on his accomplishments on the field.

But a bitter debate has raged for the better part of two decades on whether or not Rose belongs in Cooperstown because of his personal characteristics. He has openly admitted he is a gambler. And now he admits that he lied about betting on the game, in which he amazed both young and old every time he stepped onto the field.

Does Pete Rose deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? If I had to answer this question I would have to say yes. Yes he does. Not because he is a spectacular role model for anyone to look up to. But, Rose deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because he is one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game.

The Hall of Fame is not an institution that is based on personal merit. If that were the case the halls of Cooperstown would be well — ghostly. You see you couldn't have the likes of Yankee greats Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle. Ruth was a whole lot of things and upstanding role model was far from what he was considered.

Mantle died because he spent a life abusing alcohol. Before his death he would tell young people not to be like him. He told young baseball fans that God had given him his ability and he had wasted his life away on booze.

And I'm sure that list could go on and on. What about other sports? Is basketball's Hall of Fame filled with the ideal role models? I think not. What about football. Are all of these Hall of Famers moral saints? Undoubtedly, no!

Wilt Chamberlin was extremely immoral. He admitted to sleeping with thousands of women during his lifetime. In just the past year or two it has been debated whether or not Lawrence Taylor, the great New York Giants linebacker, should be kicked out of the Hall of Fame because of his addiction to cocaine. Not to mention some of the other extra curricular activities he was involved in during his time in the NFL.

How about tennis. Surely, a game such as tennis has some quality legends in the Hall of Fame. Oh I'm sure there are some upstanding tennis players. But you also have the likes of Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, who have either openly admitted to their practice of homosexuality or sponsor gay and lesbian causes.

The point is each and every sport has some real questionable characters, at best, who have also been some of the sports world's greatest athletes. And they are in the Hall of Fame based on their athletic accomplishments.

Now I know you are thinking what in the world does this have to do with me and my walk with God. Well, you see Christianity also has a Hall of Fame. It's not called that per se in scripture. But, many people call Hebrews chapter 11 the Hall of Fame of Christianity.

It is filled with some amazing people, who had faith that was almost unbelievable. And is unbelievable to non-Christians. You have the likes of Abraham, who had the knife thrust back to sacrifice the son that was promised him by God. You have Moses, the leader of the Exodus. Then there's Barak, who led an army against against Jabin, the king of Canaan. Samson, the world's strongest man is mentioned. King David, whose royal blood line eventually gave us the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. And there are a number of others.

But, you see the striking similarity is that each of these aforementioned Biblical legends, also had some real questionable times in their lives.

Abraham slept with his wife's hand maiden and bore a child named Ishmael. And because he had a momentary lapse in judgment and was impatient on the promise of God, we today have the crisis in the Middle East. One which will not be solved until the return of Jesus Himself.

Before Moses lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage he told God that he was not the man for the job when he was called. Moses made up every excuse of that day not to accept his calling. He told God that he didn't think the people would believe him.

And so God gave him miracles to perform that would prove to the people that he was sent of God. Then, Moses said well I'm not really good with words. And God told him, "I, even I, will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you are to say."

And that still wasn't enough. But, eventually Moses accepted his call and as they all say the rest is Biblical history.

The prophetess Deborah called Barak to lead an army of 10,000 against the army of the King of Canaan. She even told him that his enemy was going to be handed over to him.

But instead of trusting, he told Deborah that he would go, but only if she would go with him, which wasn't part of the original plan.

Samson disobeyed God on several occasions. He even slept with a prostitute. And he even gave up the secret to his strength to a woman that was being paid to seduce him.

And there's David. He had a woman's husband killed because he lusted for her to be his own when he saw her bathing on a rooftop.

But you see, God doesn't call the perfect to carry out His will. No, we messed that up in the Garden of Eden. Ever since then God has had to work through the imperfection of His creation. We are an imperfect people, but we can serve the God of perfection. And even though we can really foul things up now and then, God has the ability to make right our wrongs.

You see Abraham remained faithful to God and He delivered a ram to be sacrificed instead of Isaac. And because of his faithfulness we eventually got King David. And out of his sinful act with Bathsheba, we eventually got the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, as mentioned above.

Moses led the children out of Israel. Barak defeated the army of the King of Canaan. And Samson eventually killed more people in his death than during the time he was alive.

God doesn't call us to carry out His will because we are Hall of Famers, but He can and does work through our imperfections if we will lay our lives at His feet and have the faithfulness of those that have come before us.

Satan tries to steal the victory from believers all the time, by feeding them the lie that God can not work through someone like them. Nor would He want to do so. Don't feed into the lies of the deceiver. And the devil will attack non-believers, who are being convicted by the Holy Spirit, saying God could not love you. Look at all the stuff you have done throughout your life.

Fact is God loves us. And God works through those who are called according to His purpose every day. You don't have to be the best, the prettiest, the most talented or the most gifted. You just have to be faithful. God will take care of the details. God is calling you! Will you step up and become a Hall of Famer that people generations from now can look back upon and follow your lead, because of your faithfulness.