Pete Rose Belongs in the Hall of Fame

For two decades, it's been the most popular topic of conversation in arguably the most talked about sport in this country. It's more scarring than the 1994 strike that canceled the World Series. More intriguing than the home run chase of 1998. More argued over than Jose Conseco's books. Nothing holds a candle to this lightning rod of baseball controversy. Not even Barry Bonds and Balco.

Pete Rose and Cooperstown.

The subject of Rose and the Hall of Fame is in the news again, thanks to a July 27^th report from Bill Madden of the New York Daily News stating MLB commissioner Bud Selig is "seriously considering lifting Pete Rose's lifetime suspension from baseball." Thanks to some heavy lobbying from some of baseball's legends - including Hank Aaron and Joe Morgan, according to Madden's article - two decades of purgatory may be enough to get the baseball's hit king.

A couple days later, Madden wrote another article stating Selig hadn't changed his mind and isn't planning to do so anytime soon.

That's absolutely ridiculous.

St. Petersburg Cathedral is for people of high moral character. The pro baseball Hall of Fame is for the best ball players to ever walk the earth. (The credit for that line goes to my good friend Adam Wire, who is a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan and bold Rose advocate. It's the best reason I've heard regarding why Rose should be inducted in the Hall.)

Sure, Rose cheated the game. He cheated himself. But the only question worth considering when it comes to whether Rose should be inducted is whether the guy could play. Even Rose's worst enemy wouldn't argue against his talent on the field.

If his all-time numbers - more hits than anyone with 4,256, second most runs with 2,165 and doubles with 746 - don't do it for you, look at the way he played. Every day, all out, no excuses. No player has ever played as many games as Rose's 3,562. His place in the game is up for discussion, but most consider him one of the game's 20 greatest players ever.

The people who believe Rose should never gain entrance into the hall are the same holier-than-thou phonies who argue against the Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez credentials. They're the same crowd who'd like to think steroids diminish what Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Roger Clemens accomplished.

Baseball's history is paradoxical. It's glaringly ugly and gloriously beautiful at the same time. Discrimination, drugs and steroids have given the game a noticeable black eye. Grass stains, the crack of the bat and the game's uniqueness (really, what other sport openly encourages spitting?) baseball is this country's national pastime.

That's the reality of the game. We need to accept that.

It's a fine line when you start excluding players from the Hall of Fame because of off-field issues. We might as well kick Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker out of the Hall for fixing a game in the 1910s (for Cobb's Detroit Tigers). There was never a more colorful or controversial figure in baseball than Babe Ruth. Why don't we kick him out?

The answer, of course, is simple. The Hall of Fame wouldn't be the same without Cobb, Speaker or Ruth. But it's not the same without Charlie Hustle, either.

Nobody has ever embodied the paradoxical state of baseball better than Rose. His gambling habit and appalling reluctance to apologize have made him an outcast, keeping him from the level of recognition he dearly desires. But the way he played the game - his superior hustle, passion and intensity - make Rose a national treasure.

You don't keep national treasures out of the Hall of Fame, no matter how reprehensible their actions or tarnished their legacy.

Why?

Because the Hall of Fame doesn't have a church steeple.