Controversy may be blooming over Rose.

• Position: Sports

Rob Manfred must be a fan of "The Shawshank Redemption.''

The new commissioner is gradually reintroducing Pete Rose into baseball society, not just dropping him into some anonymous apartment in downtown Portland after 25 years in the game's version of the slammer.

If Rose behaves, it seems likely that Manfred will reinstate him, at which point the Rose-Hall of Fame debate will be joined in earnest. To this point in time, it has been strictly theoretical, since Rose has never been on the ballot. If he is allowed to be considered, the ramifications will be both complex and controversial.

Will Manfred feel obliged to allow any of the Black Sox to be reinstated, particularly Joe Jackson? Consistency says he should, especially since they were all found innocent in a court of law of fixing the 1919 World Series.

Rose's achievements as a player are indisputable. It is inconceivable that he would not have been a nearly unanimous choice in his first year on the ballot, if that had happened. Given how long he has been retired, though, exactly how would he be considered for the Hall? Would he have had to go through the screening process in place now? Would he be on the general BBWAA ballot, or go immediately to the Veterans Committee?

If Rose is on the general ballot, he will not get this vote, even if he is fully reinstated by Manfred.

I vote for players who are linked to PEDs, and the reasons for that have been written about frequently. What Rose did in betting on baseball games he was involved with is not comparable to using PEDs. Baseball players gambling on baseball games they are involved with has traditionally resulted in the sport's version of the death penalty, and it should.

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe described the reason Rose should not be allowed back into the game very succinctly when he wrote that, when Mookie Wilson's ground ball went through Bill Buckner's legs in 1986, nobody thought it was because Buckner had a side bet on Game 6.

Once that trust in the integrity of a game's outcome disappears, baseball becomes pro wrestling. One thing about PED users -- they tried to improve their performances, not diminish them. What they did helped their team win games, not lose them. It is entirely different from what Rose did.

Gambling is the ultimate contagion in pro sports. It can take over, and the only way to prevent that is to make the potential penalties so severe that nobody even tries. If Rose is reinstated, what does that say...