He should never be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He knew the rules and he broke them.
A friend of mine was a player in the Cincy farm system when Rose was manager. During spring training, in the morning Rose would pick some kid who wasn’t going to rate higher than AA and sent him over to the dog track across the street to make his bets. In the afternoon, Rose was never seen at the Reds complex; he went to the dog track himself to gamble all afternoon.
My friend told me Rose knew more about baseball than anyone he ever met, but his personal life was a total disaster.
Rose was an ass, and for betting on baseball and lying about it, he does not deserve to make an acceptance speech in Cooperstown. But for his ability, I would consider letting him in posthumously.
Also, I would let him in before I let in Bonds, McGwire, Sosa or Rodriguez. I would never, ever allow them in the HOF.
There are three statutes in the lobby of Cooperstown when you come in; they are there not because of who they were as players, but who they were as people:
Lou Gehrig
Jackie Robinson
Roberto Clemente
Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Alex Rodriguez do not belong in their company.