It's time for Baseball Hall of Fame to include some banished all-time greats

With the passing of Pete Rose, once again the Baseball Hall of Fame comes to the forefront. For almost four decades, baseball battled Rose, keeping him from the Hall of Fame and away from baseball for the most part.

Rose, the all-time hit leader, was never blameless. He bet on baseball and he bet on games involving the team he managed. That was a no-no, always was prohibited, and even with the onslauhgt of legalized gambling throughout the country, is still not allowed. Rose's punishment was a lifetime ban from baseball.

Unfortunately, that lifetime has ended, and that ban should be over. If Rose had shown remorse or been more accountable, maybe he could have successfully petitioned for a reprieve while alive. That just wasn't the person Rose was. Rose should be in the Hall of Fame for his play on the field, not held out for his personal failures and weaknesses.

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Pete Rose isn't the only baseball great not in the Baseball Hall of Fame

This holds true for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriquez, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and others. Of course, these all-time greats are being kept from the Hall for other reasons, but those reasons seem hollow now, considering some of the players that have been inducted in recent years.

There is little doubt that the voters who select players for inductions take their responsibility very seriously. People can disagree on their selections or on their reasons for withholding their votes, but their passion can or should not be questioned. Still, it is time for bygones to be bygones.

The superstar players tainted by the Steroid Era of baseball who have unofficially been banned need to be given their place in the Hall of Fame, just like Pete Rose should finally be inducted. And Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Not every person in the Hall of Fame is a good person. Some were downright nasty and of poor moral quality. It isn't, however, the Good Player, Good Person Hall of Fame — it should contain the best of the best, and right now, without these all-time greats, it is the Baseball Hall of Really Good.

Rose brought most of his issues with baseball on himself. Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, and the others did as well. It doesn't matter — those players deserve a bust in the Hall. There can even be sidenotes as to why they were kept out for as long as they were. PEDs and gambling are part of the game's history, just as racism is woven into the very fabric of the game's history.

A trip to Cooperstown is at the very top of my personal bucket list, but it is hard to accept that it really is the Baseball Hall of Fame when some of the greatest players to ever grace a baseball diamond are kept out.

It is time to let bygones be bygones. For Rose, it is too late. It's not for several other titans of the sport.