Boy, I really opened a can of worms when I initially wanted to simply compare horse racing's path to Hall of Fame to MLB's more arduous path to their Hall of Fame.

But, since we are now discussing Pete Rose who I entirely agree was a magnificent baseball player -- he did bet on his own team as a manager and ESPN reported as a player as well. Normal bet was $2,000.

However, if Rose only bets on the Reds to win, maybe you have a point. But then there are the games he doesn’t bet on them. His betting showed he didn't bet when Bill Gullickson pitched. That’s a big problem. He was signaling with his “no bet” to some interested other bettors how he felt about the Reds chances. By the way, Bill wasn't terrible in 1987 when this occurred -- not good -- but, 10-11 with a ERA of 4.85 (maybe not so good after all).