Boston MSBL Members on ESPN Jury: The Mock Trial of Charlie Hustle

Maybe you saw it on ESPN in July. ESPN called it "Pete Rose on Trial" and it generated a lot of rumors suggesting that Pete Rose would soon be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. After a mock trial and much deliberation, a 12-man jury determined by a vote of 8 to 4 that Pete Rose should be allowed into the Hall of Fame. Three members of the jury were members of the Boston Men’s Baseball League (MSBL). In the mock trial, Johnnie Cochran, acting as Defense Attorney, and Alan Dershowitz as Prosecutor, argued in front of a Jury and Judge the pros and cons of whether Pete Rose should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The show was taped live for ESPN on Thursday, July 17th, 2003 at Harvard Law School’s Austin Hall. It was televised that night on the network. The show took an in-depth look at Pete Rose’s baseball history and the incident that led to his banishment from The Game. Witnesses included Hank Aaron, Dave Parker, Bill "Spaceman" Lee (also an MSBL player), Steve Garvey, Bill James and other famous baseball personalities.

Jim Holmwood Homestead Gray Sox Jason Grenier Boston Giants Jose Medina T's Pub Dodgers         Should Rose be H.O.F. eligible? Total: Yes - 8, No - 4 NO YES YES         Did Pete Rose bet on baseball? Total: Yes - 11, No - 1 YES YES NO

The ESPN Summary: Rose Jury: Let Him In. How the MSBL Got Involved On June 30th, Michael Sutton, a casting director for ESPN, e-mailed me (Brett Rudy, Marketing Director for the Boston Men’s Baseball League). He was looking for open-minded baseball enthusiasts all ages, genders and ethnicities to be on the jury. As the largest amateur baseball league in New England with 44 teams, the Boston MSBL was likely to be a great source of potential jurors. I suggested to Mr. Sutton that he come to Boston early to attend an MABL game between the Boston Giants and T’s Pub Dodgers to interview players and their friends. After taping interviews with about two dozen candidates, Sutton chose Jason Grenier of the Giants and Jose Medina of the Dodgers to be jurors and representatives of America’s Opinion. In need of more jurors, casting was opened to the general public on the seventh and eighth of July. Boston MABL and MSBL managers were e-mailed to notify their players of this casting call and a notice was posted on the league’s message board at bostonbaseball.com. Another dozen players attended the second tryout, and Jim Holmwood from the Homestead Gray Sox was selected.

Watch The Verdict: MSBL Jury Speaks (requires a media player) Polling the Jury After listening to witnesses and the arguments of counsel, the jury was asked to vote on two questions: 1) After fourteen years of ineligibility, should Pete Rose be eligible for election into the Baseball Hall of Fame? 2) Did Pete Rose bet on baseball games? As to the first question, the Jury voted eight to four in favor to reinstate Rose’s eligibility for the Hall of Fame. Among the MSBL contingent, Medina and Grenier voted to reinstate. Holmwood voted against reinstatement. Regarding the second question, the jury was nearly unanimous, voting 11-to-1 that Rose was guilty of gambling on baseball. Holmwood and Grenier voted with the majority, but Medina was the sole member of the panel who maintained Rose’s innocence. On August 12, 2003, the website at BaseballProspectus.com reported that "Pete Rose and Major League Baseball have reached an agreement that would allow him to return to baseball in 2004, and includes no admission of wrongdoing by Rose." This announcement was made one month after the mock trial in which three MSBL members participated. In addition to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to influence Major League Baseball’s policy-making process, each juror was paid $100. Jose Medina immediately wagered his share on the T’s Pub Dodgers.

The all-telling autobiography. Epilogue Less than seven months after the airing of the documentary, Pete Rose admitted to gambling on baseball in his book entitled My Prison Without Bars, released on January 8th, 2003. Ten days earlier, Jim Holmwood, jury member and longtime member of the Boston Men's Baseball League, died from cancer. He never got to see that he was right about Pete Rose. Credits Written by: Brett Rudy. Photos: Brett Rudy. Models: Jim Holmwood, Jason Grenier, Jose Medina As originally seen in Hardball Magazine, Fall 2003.