Should Pete Rose Be Inducted Into Baseball's HOF? It's Long Overdue

While last night's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" dealt for the most part with the battle for meaningful health insurance reform, I couldn't help but notice that the final story of the day was about the increased possibility that Pete Rose will be reinstated into baseball and inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame.
I'm not a fan of gambling, and baseball has had a huge prohibition against the activity that dates back to the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Rose was suspended for life decades ago for the activity, and that suspended eliminated his chances of getting into the Hall earlier.
Now, 20 years after he first applied to be reinstated into the game, the issue has come up again. Here's the "Countdown" segment that dealt with it:

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Like it or not, gambling is legal in many more states now than it was back in the days of the Black Sox scandal. And as much as some may not want to mention it, the Baseball Hall of Fame is far from being a Hall of Saints.
Babe Ruth, for example, was anything but saintly in his carousing. That didn't stop him from getting into the Hall.
Juan Marichal belted John Roseboro with a baseball bat during a Dodgers-Giants game at Candlestick Park, but did that prevent Marichal from getting into the Hall? It may have delayed it, but eventually, Marichal was inducted.
Gaylord Perry was accused of throwing illegal pitches, namely spitters, during his long major league career, but did that prevent him from getting into the Hall? It didn't.
Pete Rose paid a price no member of the Black Sox ever had to pay-- he did time in prison. He has more than paid his debt to society, and baseball should recognize that he has done more time than he should have for his misdeeds.
Take a look at football. Before the start of the 1963 season, Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers and Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions were both suspended for betting on their teams. But their suspensions were for just one year, not the lifetime sentence baseball doled out to Rose.
Pete Rose has more than done his time and more than paid his debts to both society and the game he played. His lifetime suspension from baseball must end and soon thereafter he MUST take his place among baseball's other on-the-field greats as a Hall of Fame inductee.