New Pete Rose argument?

So I was at a local sports bar with a couple of friends last night and Barry Bonds appeared on one of the big screens. We couldn't hear the audio from the television, so we had no idea what was being said.

But what ensued, was a conversation about how terrible it is for baseball to recognize Bonds as the all-time home run king. This led to an argument about which is worse: taking steroids (or performance enhancing drugs if you want to be up-tight about it) or gambling on the game, Ala Pete Rose?

Clearly, Major League Baseball feels gambling on baseball games is much worse than taking steroids. Rose's ban is still in effect, almost 20 years later. "Shoeless" Joe Jackson of the Chicago "Black Sox" scandal in 1919 is still banned from the Hall of Fame, as well. All this, while any MLB team is welcome to sign Bonds at their convenience (although this is highly unlikely given his age and the media circus that would follow).

While we were all debating this, I made an argument that none of my friends had heard before; which surprised me because I thought I was just repeating some old jargon.

I noted that the only evidence found of Rose's baseball gambling occurred while he was a manager. There was no evidence that showed he gambled while playing.

So the question I had for my friends was: Why can't he get elected into the Hall of Fame as a player?

Think about this. He wasn't going into the Hall as a manager. He was only caught gambling as a manager and never as a player.

I think the best solution to this whole debate would be to let him in the Hall of Fame as a player, but keep his lifetime ban intact. It's the only way MLB can rid themselves of their hypocrisy.

If MLB can invite Rose to the 1999 All-Star game in Boston for the All-Century Team and make money off him, then they can also give Rose his due as a player and let him in the Hall of Fame. You can't have one or the other. It's either none or both.

And speaking of none or both, this should also apply to gambling and steroids. MLB shouldn't allow admitted steroid users to continue to play if their going to give lifetime bans to men who gambled.

Steroid usage is not less of a crime than gambling, it's equal and should be treated as such.