What about all the gamblers who came forward and said that Rose did not bet every night on the Reds…in fact, off the top of my head, I believe he did not bet when Bill Gullickson was pitching in 1987 or something.

How does that affect the integrity of the game? The man managed games differently when he had money on the line.

But I do not think that he should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He committed a crime against the game that threatened the integrity of the game at a far deeper level than steroids ever did.

Whether he owned up to it immediately or whether it had to be dragged out of him after years of questioning and probing is virtually irrelevant. He bet on baseball. There is no getting around it.

Even if he only ever bet on his own team to win, it had ramifications on his managing that would alter his approach to management. Sure, most of the time the goal is to win the game in front of you, but a baseball manager is guiding a team through a 162 game season. There has to be some thought given to the next game or the next week when it comes to bullpen use, how long you push your starter, etc.

At best, he altered game situations in an effort to win a personal bet. At worst, he bet against his team and potentially sabotaged them, which would put him in league with the 1919 White Sox who are in their 90th year of banishment.

Either way, it is a crime against baseball, and baseball has the right to punish him in the only real way it has left – keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.

I’m sure this was a joke but it still sorta misses the point. Rose’s actions (I won’t call them crimes) affected the integrity of the game. Vick and Plaxico and Stallworth, what they did had nothing to do with football. Their crimes had zero affect on the game they play. Rose is different because he rigged games (potentially). These aren’t the same violations and creating a false equivalence only muddies the waters.

Vick was not told he should not fight, drown, electrocute, and strangle dogs. It was an honest mistake.

Seriously though, if you bet on baseball you are out. I am 90% sure he bet on his team to lose, or he made a side bet that his starter would not go 6 innings, or something like that. Pete is out, and all confirmed roid users should be out as well.

I’m not mounting a case against him. I disputing your case for him. I also have a problem with comparing a real prison sentence to being kicked out of the sport you love because you can’t follow the one rule that is pounded into you from single-A on down the line: Don’t fucking cheat.