Pete Rose and the Baseball Hall of Fame (a.k.a. Charlie Hustler)

Reference THIS article.

I fully expect that, eventually Pete Rose, a man who not only gambled on baseball...while he was playing and managing baseball...but lied about it profusely, will eventually get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  At that point, I suggest renaming it the Baseball Hall of Shame.

Yes, let's ponder that one for a moment:  In the surreal world of American professional sports, apparently "banned for forever" doesn't actually mean "banned for forever".  Why should it?  This is a game where a union exists to protect millionaires (players) from other millionaires (owners) while at the same time turning a blind eye for a decade or more to rampant cheating via the use of performance enhancing drugs.  Surreal?  In point of fact Major League Baseball, it could be argued, has no shame at all, so why not put Rose in Cooperstown?

Well here's why Pete Rose should be banned for life from the Hall of Fame Shame:  Because he lied...

...to his fans
...to major league baseball
...to the public at large.

He lied because of the hubris associated with being "Pete Rose".  When you believe that you ARE baseball, it's not much of a stretch to believe that baseball's rules do not apply to you.

If Pete Rose is allowed in the Baseball Hall of Fame, what in turn will be the message, especially for younger fans of the game?  That you can basically do whatever the heck you want, including lying to everyone about an extremely serious matter, and as long as you say "sorry" enough it will somehow be okay?  Or maybe the lesson is that the rules apply to everyone, unless you happen to be Pete Rose.

Call me crazy, but I think integrity matters.  Even in the world of professional sports.

In the end, Pete Rose isn't sorry he bet on baseball...he's sorry that he got punished for betting on baseball.  One need only look the years of vehement denials for proof of that last statement.  Now if professional baseball can't distinguish between these two concepts...sorry for gambling on baseball vs sorry for getting caught gambling on baseball...then I suspect he probably should be in the Hall of Fame Shame.