Wrote this about Pete Rose in GD.

[trumad]

Again---You know at the end the guy was addicted to gambling---betting on his own team and risking the chance of losing his legacy.

So---when you become a degenerate, you act like a degenerate. You begin to double, triple your bets, and eventually you will be so far down you will be forced to change up your tactics and try and cover your losses.

Bookies, loan sharks, etc..... they'll sink you teeth into you so fast you won't know what hit you.

That right there is why there is a strict no gambling rule in Professional sports.

Once you hit that slippery slope there no putting on the breaks.

[madinmaryland]

1. There is no doubt Pete Rose IS a gambling addict. The only question I have is does that

eliminate him from consideration to the HoF. Was he cheating as a player? No one knows. Was he cheating as a manager? We all know the answer to that.

I have always said that he should never be allowed into baseball at any level, including cleaning the shitters in the mens room.

[Iggo]

2. And you're right.

But the argument about Bonds is that he had a HOF career before he cheated.

Well, so what? Pete Rose had a HOF career before he cheated, too, and I don't see the Barroid apologists screaming to let Pete Rose into the hall.

[madinmaryland]

3. That's not exactly what I was saying, but yeah, that has not been said by the Barroid apologists.

Pete Rose could be inducted as a Player, as he never did cheat (that we know of) as a a player. He did cheat as a manager, though he was also not HoF worthy as a manager, regardless of the gambling issues.

Barroid and the rest of the roiders did cheat as players, and we will never know for sure how much of their careers they were cheating.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Again, I will stand up for Pete Rose. He belongs in the HoF

I get awfully tired of players making a million dollars per at bat to run 45 feet on a grounder to second and then run to the dugout. ANd, if his numbers are good enough, he'll be voted into Cooperstown, even if he was nothing but a DH.

I know there are others here besides me who saw Pete Rose play? He ran to first base on a walk harder than some of these aforementioned millionaires run on a ground ball. He never cheated the fans with his play. We didn't call him "Charlie Hustle" for nothing. That is how baseball is supposed to be played.

OK, keep the ban in place so that he never works as a manager or coach again. Just give him his due for the great player that he was.

[madinmaryland]

5. +1

I never liked the man, but as you say, he played harder than anyone in the game. He was always ready to play 110%.

[joeybee12]

8. Yup, always flying on amphetimines...

Of course he was always ready to play.

[trumad]

6. And the next Player or Coach who gambles?

Just look the other way as well?

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Did I say look the other way?

No. If I had said that the ban should be lifted and the commissioner's office should apologize for imposing it in the first place, that would be looking the other way.

All I said was allow him in the HoF. The intensity of his play and 4000 hits speak for themselves.

[JonLP24]

9. I don't look at addiction

as a moral failing. I look at it as a medical problem that needs treatment.

Not arguing whether he should or shouldn't be in the hall of fame, the fact that he was addict doesn't convince he shouldn't be enrolled.

[trumad]

10. I agree that its a condition...

A condition that could reek havoc on the game.

[Drum]

12. my 2 cents

While I lived in Cincinnati---circa 1984-1990---I came into contact with some of the prof athletes there, in a glancing way. When I worked door at my bar-job I occasionally had to turn away a few Bengals. They were a wee bit miffed, sure, but since this was a college bar on Calhoun it was no big deal to them, as there were plenty of other venues to try.
During that time, though, I---much more a baseball fan---heard unsavory stories about Pete Rose trying to wiggle out of traffic stops with offers to Peace Officers of free Reds tickets etc. Et cetera. Mind you, I was ashamed on one level of the Marge Schott pronouncements in that era, but *really* cut down when I would hear these anecdotes (from local people) about Rose.
Years later, once I was living elsewhere, the gambling stories brought me great pain. I'm of the age where I knew and took inspiration from Rose's amazing feats and stats. His response to the "aftermath" of playing, however, has caused me despair, and unintentionally he has taught this former-performing-artist a timely lesson about hubris, and the stupidity of playing the "Do you know who I am" card.

Sad, but ALSO true. I know I am not the only one struggling to find the right assessment of the "character" aspect of my vote/allegiance. On we go, floundering and fighting to make some sense of our instincts....