Pete Rose has as many character flaws as he had hits in his 23-year Major League Baseball career.

For those of you who might have forgotten that number — a number that used to be a matter of automatic recall like 61, .406 and 56 — it's 4,256.

Rose is arrogant, defiant and generally smarmy. If you met him at a dinner party, you would feel compelled to scrub yourself clean at the end of the conversation.

But there is one reason why Rose isn't in the baseball Hall of Fame.

He lied.

The fact he bet on baseball wasn't the real reason he was jettisoned from the game and turned into the baseball version of Lord Voldemort.

The fact that he thumbed his nose at the then-commissioner Bart Giamatti and lied about his betting activities, even though there was a mountain of evidence against him, is what got him banned.

Had he come out and said, "Yeah. I did it. I'm sorry," Rose probably would be in the Hall of Fame right now.

But the time has come to let him back into the game.

The Cincinnati Reds should be allowed to retire jersey No. 14.

The Hall of Fame will never have credibility as long as Rose isn't among the enshrined (as well as Shoeless Joe Jackson, but that's another story).

Bud Selig apparently spent the last 12 years considering Rose's petition for reinstatement before ruling against him last week.

Way to be on the ball, Bud. Did you misplace it under the stacks of reports on rampant steroid use in the game?

Speaking of steroids, that is a much more serious scandal than betting on baseball.

As far as we know, Rose bet only on the Reds, not against the Reds.

The sluggers of this generation not only cheated to gain an edge, they cheated players who were clean.

They cheated everyone.

Even the players who did not pump themselves full of juice are guilty by association. Everyone from Juan Pierre to Albert Pujols will be judged under the false light of steroid use.

Rose was just one man placing bets on one team.

He is banished for life.

Manny Ramirez was caught using banned substances in 2003 and caught again early this season.

If you connect the dots, Ramirez might have been cheating for at least six years.

Not only is Man-Ram not banished into baseball purgatory, he is getting standing ovations.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are selling out the Mannywood section and selling out of fake Manny wigs.

How is that just?

The rules should apply to everyone.

Rose bet on baseball. You want to kick him out of the game? Fine.

But kick the 'roiders out, too. They have done far more damage to baseball than Rose ever did.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.