[the 'stache]

Oh, and Jeff, I agree with you on all three of the gentlemen you named.

I understand there have to be rules in baseball, and if you break a rule, you have to pay a penalty of some sort, be it sitting out the last 65 games of a season, or being permanently banned by the League Commissioner.

But like the game of baseball itself that starts with hope renewed each spring, I believe at some point all men should be given a second chance. Though Shoeless Joe Jackson is no longer with us, I think that he has paid penance enough. So, too, has Pete Rose.

I look at the players that we are, for one reason or another, choosing to exclude from Cooperstown. The all-time leading home run hitter. The all-time hits leader. The men with the three best individual home run seasons in baseball history, too. The man with more Cy Young Awards than any other pitcher. One day I might get married and have a kid. I'll be older than dog spit, but if I have a boy, I'll take him to visit Cooperstown. And I do not now know how I would answer him if asked "daddy, who hit the most home runs, and who had the most hits, and why are they nameless silhouettes on this wall? I can't even answer that question now. What will happen when I'm old and decrepit?

Joe Jackson needs to be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, if the Hall exists to honor the greats of the game, I'd be hard pressed to name ten men who had greater natural hitting ability than Jackson.

Pete Rose bet on baseball. And he bet on his own team. But he didn't bet they would lose, and then attempt to sabotage his team's chances. He bet on his team to win.

Again, he's served his time. Put him in Cooperstown. Put a post it note next to his plaque stating he bet on the game if you must, baseball. But put him in.

And Jobe? Yes. He clearly belongs in. Another man that should have been inducted while he was alive. Now it's too late.

What a shame.