Peter Rose is a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Four thousand, two hundred, and fifty six hits.

Think about that for a second. Do you know how many hits that is?

Kirby Puckett had 2,304 hits during his career. Paul Molitor had 3,319 hits and Rod Carew had 3,053.

All of those guys are in the Hall of Fame.

Pete Rose isn’t in the Hall. And he probably never will be. As somebody who loves baseball, that makes me more than a little bit frustrated.

We know Pete Rose bet on sports. He bet on his own team while he was managing and he bet on other teams as well – both in baseball and in other sports.

Who cares?

Bud Selig cares. Major League Baseball cares. Some of you care.

Go ahead and care – but at the end of all of this, my question is – why shouldn’t he be in? What he did wasn’t right, but what he did has no impact at all on what he did on the field.

He’s not a Hall of Fame manager. But he is a Hall of Fame player.

What did he do on the field? That should be the only question we ask. His numbers are Hall of Fame numbers in any league and yet major League Baseball keeps him out because…why do they keep him out again?

He bet on baseball. Yep, that’s the crime of the century.

Most people who argue against him will use the word integrity and talk about Rose’s apparent lack of it. They say he has no integrity because he not only bet on baseball, but he lied about it for almost 15 years.

Doesn’t it take integrity to step up and admit your mistakes?

And, the folks who argue against him say Rose isn’t remorseful and he isn’t embarrassed by his actions.

Really? You know that for sure? You’ve spent an hour living his life, knowing that even though he was the greatest hitter of all time, he won’t be officially recognized for it? You don’t think that’s embarrassing?

I wish I had that kind of power, to be able to know what other people are feeling. It would make life a whole lot easier. You don’t know what Rose is feeling and you can’t begin to imagine what kind of pain he goes through knowing he should be there. Defiance doesn’t mean lack of remorse. He’s protecting himself – he’s human.

Major League Baseball is full of cheaters and drug users today, but we need to keep Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame because he bet on baseball. Let him in now because it’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the only thing to do.

And yes, if you are wondering, I think Barry Bonds should be in when he is eligible because he did it on the field. I don’t think he did it the right way, but he didn’t break any rules and he didn’t get caught cheating. He’s got the numbers -- just like Rose does.

You can’t keep Bonds out just because you think he did it the wrong way – he did it and that should be the only thing that matters. Same goes for Rose. In fact, the comparison isn’t even fair, because Bonds was apparently helped on the field by drugs. Rose wasn’t helped by anything other than talent and hard work, he just bet on baseball. Yet, people will make the comparison.

The point is, if you want to change it from the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame into the Hall of Fame for Choir Boys and Perfect Men with No Flaws – you need to change the criteria for induction and then stick to your guns.

Go back through and dig out the skeletons of the guys who are already in. Just a warning, you are going to find some bad things in there, things that won’t be fun to talk about. You’ll find cheaters (Gaylord Perry), alleged spouse abusers (Kirby Puckett), and racists (Ty Cobb.)

Talk about integrity.

Pete Rose might not be your idea of a perfect person. Guess what -- that person doesn’t exist. But, he is a Hall of Fame baseball player.

Let him in.