Despite his crimes against baseball, Pete Rose is a legend. Growing up in rural Southern Ohio and idolizing Pete late in his career, I can remember as a child playing Little League baseball that his style of play transformed the game, his game transcended upon every kid in our little park who has ever strapped on a cleat (or in some instances a tennis shoe). Every kid wanted to play like him and the games we played were in his likeness to the point that a head-first slide was called a "Pete Rose" slide and every child was chomping at the bit to mimic our hero. We ran on and off the field, we would not dare not to run 100% percent down the first baseline on even a routine pop-up , and we certainly left it all on the baseball field as if our idle were watching our every move. Pete Rose did more for the game of baseball than he has ever done to hurt it so in honor of my on the field hero and for the sake of every girl or boy that has went head first into a base and called it a "Pete Rose slide" I will give my top 5 reasons to reinstate Pete Rose.

 #5- What he did for the game of baseball should be recognized.  Yes it is indisputable that what he did as a manager was wrong and no one not even himself has an argument to the contrary, but he is an icon as a player and the way he played the game effected generations of future baseball players and that should not be forgotten.  Regardless of his mistakes he played the game the way it should be played.  Whether Bud Selig wants to admit it or not he is a role model and like many role models they make mistakes because they are also human beings.But human beings accomplishing extraordinary feats is what makes them idolized, but the way Pete Rose played the game would have brought him legendary status even without putting up Hall of Fame numbers because of the manner in which he played the game.  Pete Rose contributed to baseball beyond the Major Leagues, he taught an entire generation how to play the game the right way and that should not be forgotten. 

 Selig obviously has at least some bit of resentment against Pete Rose.  This is arguably the harshest penalty ever dealt to a player/manager in the modern era and it couldn't have happened to a more iconic player. Pete Rose doesn't help himself;the arrogance that made him a fiery competitor may now be the wall that keeps him out of baseball. Selig is set in his way in the review of the case and I would presume it has more to do with keeping Pete out of the modern game as a manager than it does in keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.  This is an assumption of course but why else would Selig slap the harshest punishment known to the game on one of modern eras most iconic players? Usually such grandeur grants one leniency but in this case it appears to have the opposite effect. I do not know why Bud Selig is so resentful in this particualr case but it would appear to be personal and not necessarily acting in the best interest of baseball.

 Sometimes giving someone a second chance turns out to be a gift to the baseball world and as of now Bud Selig should be searching for such gifts.  Josh Hamilton's reinstatement after admittingly using drugs turned out to be just such a lift (anyone remember the homerun derby 2008). It is yet to be determined whether the gamble will pay off and Hamilton will stay on the straight and narrow, but as of now it is working. Why shouldn't Pete be allowed to manage baseball and take his place in Cooperstown? Is it so much worse than what is going on now? Cincinnati could use Pete on their coaching staff, even if he just sat at the end of the bench he would sell tickets.  It would be good for baseball, it would be good for Cincinnati, and it would be good for Selig yet the one man who Seig refuses to give a second chance to is Rose.  

 Without any such bans stemming from the steroid era I don't know how Bud Selig sleeps at night keeping Pete Rose out of baseball.  Pete may have had a decision making error of monumental proportions but did betting on baseball change our stats and records more so than what allegedly Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, Clemons, Alex Rodriguez,Manny Ramirez and the 101 others not even named and the generation before them that will never be known about? These men broke our sacred records and changed the outcome of World Series' and they have not been banned, the only one that has even gotten a penalty was Manny for doping in 09'. Rose did it right on the field he might be just the guy to head up the steroid enforcement agency of Major League baseball. Imagine how furious a purist of the game such as Rose must be at these men making a mockery of his sport? Yes Rose bet on baseball, he may have bet on his own team, but can you imagine a competitor like Rose betting on his own team to lose? I would bet my life savings that if he ever bet on the Reds it was for a win, and how big of a crime is that? The steroid era, not a couple of Pete Rose managed seasons, has been far more detrimental to baseball than Pete Rose.  Until Selig starts dealing out harsher punishments for steroid users than I think we really have to reevaluate reason number #4 Selig has a personal grudge or has just lost the testicular fortitude to deal with the steroid genre.

  It may not be in his lifetime, but sometime, mark my word, the accomplishments of Pete Rose will be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Long after Selig is gone Pete Rose will still have 4,256 hits first all-time, he will still have played in 3,562 games , he will still have been the catalyst of the Hall of Fame laden team known as the "The Big Red Machine," he will still have 3 World Series rings, 17 All-Star appearances in 5 different positions, and he will still stand as such an iconic figure in the many young fans of baseball that the very mention of his name seems synonymswith the sport itself and how it is to be played.With or without Bud Selig Pete Rose is and will be a Hall of Famer, Pete Rose will be remembered as the all-time hits leader and Selig will be a long-forgotten blip best remembered for the steroid era blunders that happened under his administration. Pete Rose for an entire generation showed us how the game should be played and for that our native son Ohio thanks you.