Now that Pete Rose has been sentenced to jail and fined for criminal offenses that relate only coincidentally to betting on baseball, some sports writers are saying that a failure to grant him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame would be the equivalent of placing him in double jeopardy. That is just not so. Mr. Rose`s sentence has nothing to do with the fact that he also broke the rules of the sport that provided him a very generous living. Then he lied. There is little doubt that, except for these actions, his place in the Hall of Fame was an eventual certainty; but to grant that honor now would send a message to millions of youngsters saying, ”If you are a great athlete . . . you can break the rules and get away with it.” And that would be the greatest tragedy of all.
