True, if it was a. He bet, b. he got caught and said 'whoops, ya got me' then maybe.
The reason I continue to disagree is that that isn't what happened. When confronted with the bank records, he started lying left and right. He claimed that he didn't know any of the organized crime people, then they found letters and personal checks to them. When they showed him checks made to fictitious names or CASH, he tried spinning stories about real estate deals.
Based on analysis of his financial records, the FBI determined that he was betting an average of $15,000 a
day. This is serious cash, not a little hobby.
The reason it's so bad for an athlete to bet on his own game (something the evidence showed) is that it undermines the integrity of the game. It's literally a crime against the sport directly, since it shakes the fans trust in the game itself.
The players that use alcohol or drugs are breaking the laws of society, not the game.
Finally, he agreed to and signed a document putting him on the permanently ineligible list. Here's the text of that, thank you google:
Peter Edward Rose is hereby declared permanently ineligible in accordance with Major League Rule 21 and placed on the Ineligible List.
Why is this significant? The Hall of Fame has a clause that specifically says that people on the permanent ineligibility list cannot be added. It might have been added just to target Rose (it was added the next year), but the motives don't change the fact that it's a rule that's on the books. To get him into the HoF, you first need to strike that rule.
All that aside, I can't care less about MLB anymore. It's a joke, has been since the most recent strike. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, MLB, shame on me. Not gonna happen. The only baseball I'll watch anymore is minor league stuff. Go Emeralds!
