I’ll make no secret about it, I am a huge Pete Rose fan. As Major League Baseball’s all-time hit king, a 17-time All-Star and an important part of the back-to-back world champion Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s, Rose is the stuff of baseball legend; unfortunately, both on and off the field.
Even as an adamant supporter of Rose as a Hall of Famer, I can’t defend all of his actions, nor will I attempt to. So when the news came out recently that evidence had surfaced that Rose was gambling on baseball games even as a player, I had to take a deep breath and come to the realization that there’s a very good chance this new evidence would be the death of Rose’s reinstatement chances with commissioner Rob Manfred.