By Thaq Diesel

According to ESPN.com, Pete Rose admitted on the Dan Patrick Radio Show that he bet on the Reds “every night.”  At last, he finally comes clean.  Or has he – where does the fibbing end?  It started with “I never bet on baseball” and went to “I never bet on the Reds,” and now is “I bet on the Reds every night, but didn’t bet against them – only for them to win.”  Is the next admission, “I bet against them sometimes…” or is this it?

It’s actually telling that Pete is talking about this at all.  He’s prideful; Pete’s so proud in fact that it has taken him a while to come clean.  This admission, though it seems boneheaded in a way (I can see the commish thinking, “I never knew 100% that you bet on your team, but I do now…”), may be an attempt to get everything out in the open and turn the corner on his ban from baseball.  Pete says he wants to manage again, but you know he wants his rightful place in the Hall of Fame (in addition to some cashola to feed the gambling habit). 

Pete is a tragic hero and I always cringe inside when I see his name come up in the press again.  I am so proud of what he accomplished on the field, how Rose played the game, and the fact that he was a Reds player while doing most of it.  I’m also not blind to the fact that his crime of gambling on his own sport, if glossed over, erodes the very fabric of baseball, or any professional sport for that matter.

My solution for this mess is to keep him out of day-to-day baseball (sorry Pete, but your demonstrated gambling problem is a real issue here) but allow him in the Hall of Fame with a big mention of his past deeds.  Deep down, I think Pete Rose will be in the Baseball Hall of Fame one day (perhaps under these very circumstances), but it will probably be posthumously. 

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