Baseball Hall of Fame in Pete Rose's Future?

First, there was Pete Rose.

Long before the steroid scandal brought down a legion of baseball's most celebrated stars, Pete Rose walked down his own personal road of humiliation and shame.

And now, with name after sanctified name being sullied through the dirt, the question festers:

Will all of this steroid talk finally launch Charlie Hustle into the Hall of Fame?

Long since the accusations and belated confessions of Pete Rose, the indictment of the games biggest players (and money makers) from the 90s, Barry Bonds, Miguel Tejada, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, and Rafael Palmeiro, just to name a few, may actually catapult Pete Rose into the Hall in due time.

After all, with every indictment, congressional hearing, and grand jury testimony surrounding those players, Rose looks less the criminal. 

After all, Pete Rose didn't cheat per se. As opposed to the actions these men took to excel in the game of baseball, Pete Rose only really hurt himself, and later, as it was discovered, the American taxpayer.

For as much as Fay Vincent and Bartlett Giammatti grandstanded at the time, the alleged damage to the game served up by Rose was nowhere near the level of what the players of the Steroid Era delivered. 

If you look up the all-time hits leaders in the baseball record book, Rose's name is there, with no asterisk.

That alone will lead the game of baseball down a slippery slope.

If they chose to leave Roger Clemens out of the Hall of Fame, Rose's exemption would seem justified. But at a certain point, the average fan will have to ask about Rose.

Maybe one day, when a Miguel Tejada, Luis Gonzalez, or Sammy Sosa is enshrined, the average fan will have to look at the man whose alleged crime had far less impact on the game.

At that point, the question will be asked: Why isn't Charlie Hustle, the man with the most hits, performance-enhanced or not, allowed inside the halls of Cooperstown?

The answer will be simple: The voters have a legion of their own.

This may be a matter that the veterans committee will have to decide, if baseball ever shows the class to allow them to do so.

Alas, the people in this bleacher seats aren't holding their breath.