RateItAll: The Opinion Network

He should have put a fraction- a small fraction, but a fraction nonetheless of his gambling earnings into doing something about that haircut, which had not been seen since around the time Oliver Cromwell croaked...Other than that, I essentially have the same opinion of this issue that irishgit has...

Its not gambling against his own team. Its gambling on baseball and gambling on games his team played. Rose has admitted the last two, but has stopped short of admitting actually betting against the Reds. I've said this before on here, and I'll say it again now. It's been a standard clause in the contract of every professional baseball player since the 1880's that betting on baseball, and particularly betting on games in which your team is playing is a suspension offense. For betting on baseball the league or commission has some discretion in terms of length of suspension. For betting on games in which your team is playing, the suspension is for life. Every player who isn't illiterate or a moron knows this. Rose is neither. Rose is a fatally flawed, highly driven man who could not control his addiction. He has paid a terrible price, and he SHOULD pay it. Should he be allowed back into organized baseball? Not unless the intent is to make a travesty of a stern and entirely just punishment. Should he be in the Hall of Fame? Yes, on the day he dies. The ban is for life, and he should go in when he's dead. Jackson and Cicotte of the 1919 White Sox should have been put in after their deaths too. Sorry Rose fans. He was a great and exciting and totally driven player. But you can't get away from the fact that he has admitted his guilt. Your love of his style and skill should not blind you to his terrible flaw.

He bet on them to win should be in HOF

Ranks right up there with (1) Charles Grodin turning down the lead role in The Graduate, (2) the Portland Trail Blazers selecting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan and of course - (3) the Pharoh ignoring the warnings of Moses.