RIP, Pete Rose.

He was an all-time great hitter, and his numbers would normally easily justify putting him in the Hall of Fame.

However, I support his continued ban. MLB rightly established a rule banning players and managers who bet on baseball if they had a role in the game in question. Rose clearly bet on games involving the Cincinnati Reds while managing the team. He eventually admitted it in 2004, after denying it for many years. Because he bet on his own team rather than against it, what he did wasn't as bad as what the notorious 1919 "Black Sox" did (deliberately throw games in the World Series after being paid off by gamblers). But it was still bad enough. When a manager bets on his own team, he has an incentive to expend more resources winning that game, relative to others (e.g. - by over-using his best pitchers, risking further injury to hurt players, etc.). That creates significant perverse incentives. It's important to forestall such corruption.

In sum, Rose should be remembered as an all-time great player. But also one who must never get in the HOF. His fate in that last regard - like that of the Black Sox - should stand as a warning to others.