Gambling
hall of fame no sure thing for Rose
As Reported by The USA Today
Pete
Rose may never get into baseball's Hall of Fame, but there could
be another Hall of Fame that Rose is qualified to enter: the
Casino Legends Hall of Fame in Las Vegas.
This Hall
is located at the Tropicana
Resort & Casino, and ever since Rose admitted that he
bet on baseball, the hall's curator, Steve Cutler, has been
getting a few phone calls to see if Rose qualifies.
The museum
portion traces the evolution of gambling in Nevada since it
was legalized in 1931. There are 15,000 artifacts on display.
And each year a selection committee picks five people to be
enshrined in the Hall in six categories, from big-time gamblers
to showgirls and entertainers.
Engelbert
Humperdinck, the Smothers Brothers and Sammy Davis Jr. are some
of the entertainers in the Hall. The enshrined gamblers are
Puggy Pearson, Texas Dolly Brunson and Amarillo Slim Preston.
Pearson,
whose nickname comes from his pug nose, owns a bus that's named
"Rovin' Gambler," which proclaims on the side: "I'll
play any man from any land any game he can name for any amount
that he can count." And in small print: "Provided
I like it."
Brunson,
who wrote a book that's considered the bible of poker, is one
of four players to win the World Series main event more than
once.
Preston,
a pool shark, once beat singer Willie Nelson for $300,000 in
dominoes.
Rose's chances
of joining that crew? "You have to be a gambler who wins
a couple of World Series of Poker," Cutler says. "And
you have to have an unbelievable reputation as a player in Las
Vegas."
Sounds like
tough luck for Rose again.
|