by Peter F. Ravenson

Created on: January 22, 2010   Last Updated: January 23, 2010

Pete Rose's gambling addiction that lead to his ban from professional baseball resulted in really stupid decisions, but at the same time you cannot deny his collosal contributions to professional baseball.  If you look up Pete Rose's career records you'll find a bunch of elite stats that only a handful of players have even gotten close to catching up with.  Also his pure love for playing the game was evident everytime he stepped on a field. 

 Even though his achievements are huge in the professional baseball arena, we need to remember he is only human and success can easily go to a professional athlete's head.  I am not saying, "Oh poor Pete, they should have never made you have consequences for your actions.", but what I am saying is that I think the MLB is being very two faced when dealing with cheaters.  How many of todays top athletes in Major League Baseball have openly admitted to using steroids and other drugs that enhance the capability of their performance?  These players barely got a second glance compared to Rose.  Again, I am not saying what Rose did was right, but neither were the actions of the "Juiced" players. 

Major League Baseball said they had to kick Rose out because his actions destroyed the integrity of the game.  My question is, doesn't "Juicing up" lead to loss of integrity to the game also?  Yet players were not kicked out of baseball for openly admitting to steroid and human growth hormone use.  Rose obviously had a gambling problem and deserved consequences for the actions that soiled baseball's reputation at the time, but considering how they look at steroids, did Rose get kicked out because he was destroying MLB integrity or because his crime didn't profit the MLB?  It seems that as long as it is in the MLB's financial best interest that integrity can be thrown out the window, but if they can't make money on it, than let the sucker die. 

Even though it is a well known fact that Pete Rose's personal life was not that of a saint, it is also a well known fact of why he was nicknamed "Charlie Hustle".  Everytime Pete Rose walked onto a baseball field you knew that he was giving 100 percent of what he had.  Is Pete Rose a great person off the field?  Obviously his actions say no, but what he did on the field cannot be denied.  Pete Rose was always a fierce competitor and I think that considering they cannot find solid evidence that he bet against his own team; which I don't think exists; that they should give him one more try.  If he screws up this time it should be on his own head, but I think he deserves the chance to show us he has changed.

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