I almost feel like an apology is needed to all non-baseball fans because today is another devotional using a baseball story as the introduction. Don’t worry, though. I’ll make it quick and painless.
During the 70s, I really got into baseball. It might have been due to peer pressure because this is what the boys in school were talking about. It could have been due to my grandparents who were avid Detroit Tigers fans. My dad had played baseball in high school and had quite a baseball card collection, but I don’t ever remember him watching a baseball game.
My team was the Cincinnati Reds.
I could tell you all the players on the roster: Johnny Bench, Dave Concepcion, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Cesar Geronimo, Tom Seaver, Dan Driessan, Dave Collins, Ken Henderson – just to name a few. There was one more, though, whose name was synonymous with the Reds.
Pete Rose.
Rose played five different positions in his career: second base, left field, right field, third base, and first base. He still holds the hits leader record at 4,256 hits. The next closest to the record was Ty Cobb who played at the beginning of the century and had 4,189 hits.
Rose’s career began and ended with Cincinnati with stints in between with the Expos and Phillies. After his career as a player, Rose went on to manage the Reds until 1989.
On this day in 1989 “(his last year as a manager and three years after retiring as a player), Rose was penalized with permanent ineligibility from baseball amid accusations that he gambled on baseball games while he played for and managed the Reds; the charges of wrongdoing included claims that he bet on his own team. In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame formally voted to ban those on the “permanently ineligible” list from induction, after previously excluding such players by informal agreement among voters. After years of public denial, he admitted in 2004 that he bet on baseball and on the Reds. The issue of his election to the Hall of Fame remains contentious throughout baseball. In 2025, he was posthumously reinstated and became eligible for the Hall of Fame.”1
People can debate and never agree on whether the punishment fit the crime. Those who loved watching Rose, appreciating his athleticism and ability on the diamond, tend to be
more lenient and forgiving. Regardless of anyone’s opinion, the facts remain. Our actions have consequences and Rose could never say, “I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to do that.” He knew the danger. He knew the penalty. He knew the cost. Yet in the moment of decision, he chose to gamble both on the game and his own legacy.
Galatians 6:7-8 says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
Nobody has a right to point a finger at Pete Rose and say, “How could you?” ALL of us are guilty of sowing to the flesh and reaping in kind. The tiny seed that a farmer puts into the ground reaps large shafts of wheat that wave in the wind, tall stalks of corn, or beans flowering above the ground with ripe pods waiting to be harvested. The plant is always larger than the seed. Therefore, we can expect to reap something far larger than what we planted in our lives because that which is planted grows!
Carefully consider the consequences of our actions. Don’t gamble with God! Make wise decisions like Moses and allow his example to encourage you to do the right thing.
Hebrews 11:24-26 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; (25) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (26) Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Rose
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