It’s time to open the doors, the Hall of Famers were as much as saying.

As far as I know, the doors are open to Rose as long as he buys a ticket like everybody else. Heck, Joe Morgan can probably put him on the guest list to save him a few bucks.

Was there similar sentiment among early HOFers for the induction of Joe Jackson? There are stories and quotes about Ty Cobb being sympathetic to Jackson (the famous incident where Cobb visits Jackson's store and Jackson fears to be recognized), but I don't remember if there were contemporaries (or later stars) who directly argued for his induction.

Whatever Rose might be now, his record of 4,256 hits is pure, untainted by anything more than a few greenies (amphetamines), which were de rigueur in the 1960s and 1970s and put a little spring in one’s step on day games after night games but provided nowhere near the juice that came from steroids.

That's all; just a spring in one's step! Plus, lots of people were doing them, so apparently that's OK.

Maybe it's unfair for me to expect a posting on cincinnati.com to be anything but sympathetic to Rose.

Rose sentiment is far from universal in Cincinnati. To be sure, he remains popular, but there are a large number of folks in the Queen City who are tired of his act.

"...induction of Joe Jackson? There are stories and quotes about Ty Cobb being sympathetic to Jackson [for the HoF]..."

Given that this involves two game fixer/throwers, I'm somehow not surprised.

Was there similar sentiment among early HOFers for the induction of Joe Jackson?

I would be surprised if there were. I'd say it's a vastly different context. Jackson was out of baseball in 1920 and the HOF didn't induct it's first class until 1936. No one would have been arguing him to go in during those early years for, although he was a great player, he clearly was not on the same level as the early inductees. Then it's into WW II and no one was being elected. The Old Timers committee stuffed a bunch of guys in during 1945 and 1946, whereupon the writers woke up and started trying to do a better job of electing players. By then Jackson's been gone for nearly 30 years and his contemporaries are probably not lobbying much for him if at all. The relationships between players in those days and the level of communication and interaction would have been drastically different as well.

Whatever Rose might be now, his record of 4,256 hits is pure, untainted by anything more than a few greenies (amphetamines), which were de rigueur in the 1960s and 1970s and put a little spring in one’s step on day games after night games but provided nowhere near the juice that came from steroids.

WTF?

provided nowhere near the juice that came from steroids.

I like how blithely these guys ignore that Rose lived with a steroid dealer late in his career.