NOW RETURNS the instructive saga of the fallen Hit King, Peter Edward Rose, exiled 13 years from professional baseball for gambling and angling once more to come in from the cold. It's an odyssey that began with a lie and, alas, may end with one, too.
Three things are true.
One is that in his 24-year career, Mr. Rose collected 4,256 hits - more than any other player and just one of his dozen all-time records.
Those who witnessed his arrival in the majors in the early 1960s know this as even more remarkable for his lack of exceptional skills. "Charlie Hustle," his nickname, didn't do justice to his force of energy.
For that competitive fire - and his many hits - Mr. Rose deserves to be in baseball's Hall of Fame if he would finally come clean on his transgressions. Of course, the record of his entry ought to include his forced departure from the game.
His Hall induction also ought to trigger similar redemption for Shoeless Joe Jackson, long deceased but banned from the game as a member of the infamous Chicago "Black Sox" team that threw the 1919 World Series - even though it's now widely believed he rejected that fix. Mr. Jackson's 13-season career batting average of .356 is the third-highest in baseball history.
The second truth is that the vast weight of evidence indicates Mr. Rose gambled on baseball while managing his hometown team, the Cincinnati Reds, in the 1980s. It may be that he bet on the side of the Reds, not against them. Never mind the distinction, that's quite enough to justify his continuing ban from the game - however fashionable it now would be to allow him back.
The last truth is Mr. Rose might have escaped a lifetime ban 13 years ago if he had just told the truth. Instead, he's insisted all along he did nothing wrong, a lie he has not been able to shake.
It's now entirely understandable that Mr. Rose might want to end all this with an admission of the truth, and it would be great if that were sufficiently credible to allow entry to the Hall. But the major leagues have enough problems these days without letting a gambler back in the dugout. He's not worth further eroding the game's integrity.