Isn't it Time?

There was a story this week, quickly shot down by the Commissioner's office, that Pete Rose's reinstatement was imminent.
I say it's time and the Commissioner should do it.
It has been 20 years since Rose was banned "for life" from baseball. I don't think anyone really thought it would be a lifetime ban. Some stories were that he would be out one, maybe two years and then reinstated. Then Bart Giamatti, the Commissioner who imposed the ban, died. Many of his allies blamed the stress of the Rose situation for his fatal heart attack. It began to appear that only Giamatti had the power to reinstate Rose and with Giamatti gone...
Rose certainly has not helped himself over the past 20 years. First, his insistence on his innocence despite all evidence to the contrary. Second, he only made the admission of guilt in a book and gladly accepted the receipts from book sales. Third, he continued to taunt baseball by showing up and selling memorabilia near the Hall of Fame on induction weekend. Yes, Rose managed to make himself an unsympathetic figure.
But he has served more time for his "crime" than many have for far worse. Gambling on baseball is the unpardonable sin due to the 1919 White Sox fixing a World Series. There has never been a charge that Rose bet against his team or tried to fix games. It appears that he bet on his team, when he was a manager, to win. Yes, if he had money riding on the game he may have managed differently. He might go to his closer earlier than normal. He might adjust his strategy to try and get that win today without regard for the rest of the series or season. Still, it does not appear that he ever tried to throw games. I think that is a distinction worth noting.
By banning Rose however, baseball has tried to pretend he does not exist. Those 4256 hits make that impossible. Any highlight reel from the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s has to include Rose. An All Star at five different positions, leader of the Big Red Machine and member of a Phillies championship team (and who can forget that memorable half season in Montreal?). He was baseball's biggest star for 20 years. Baseball cannot pretend it never happened.
The Hall of Fame voters, now limited to the Veteran's Committee, should have the chance to vote on Rose. Give him a limited reinstatement. Ban him from major league clubhouses. require him to do community service work on behalf of Major League baseball and include a notation on his Hall of Fame plaque (should he be voted in) about the 20 year ban for gambling.
That Rose broke baseball's cardinal rule should not be expunged from the history of the game, but neither should he. It has been 20 years. It is time.