When you think about Pete Rose, the first thing you think about is gambling. When you think about Darryl Strawberry or Steve Howe, the first thing you think about is drugs. When you think about Babe Ruth, the first thing you think about is baseball. He WAS the sport in the 1920s and into the 1930s. The drinking and such is a mere side note, and nothing that did anything to hurt the sport.

Ok, so the Babe was a wenching, drinking, partying handful of hell for a manager to handle. No question. He once held his manager by the ankles off the back of speeding train until he reversed a fine. On the other hand, this was a man who had a massive appetite for everything EXCEPT money, which he threw away with extravagant abandon. This was a massive change from the great players of the past, and which had led in large part to scandals like the 1919 World Series. I see comments under Rose that effectively say that Rose should go in the Hall of Fame because Ruth was a drunk and he's in. True, Cooperstown is about a player's skills, MOSTLY, but it is also about the integrity of the game. No one ever suggested, much less proved, that Ruth tanked a game or even bet on one. Rose, Jackson, Dolan, et al. have confessed or been convicted. It's apples and oranges.

The Babe set the standard for on field performance, and off-field antics. He wasn't just the best player in the game, he was so much better than anyone else, it would be like Barry Bonds (today) hitting 150 home runs a year, and having fun!

Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe deserve to be in the HOF more than this SOB.