[Mahoney]

I live in Cincinnati and I'm a big Reds fan. People absolutly love Rose here, but I think his admitting that he bet on baseball has hurt him tremendously in the eyes of the local fans. So many people here stood by Rose and supported him when he claimed he didn't bet on baseball, that they now feel like schmucks. Even though everyone knew he was probally lying, they were willing to support Rose. Basically people thought "if he said he didn't bet on baseball, then by god I believe him."
I don't know if most realize this or not but Rose was born and raised here in Cincinnati on the Westside of town ,and Almost every Cincinnatian has had a Pete Rose encounter at one time or another in their life, and generally they were considered good meetings. Pete has always come across as nice likeable guy (Johnny Bench on the other hand is a jerk, but I digress), which only made it easier for people to believe or want to believe he didn't bet on baseball.

But with all that said, Pete Rose should never have anything to do with MLB. I hope the Reds never hire him. The worse thing that would happen if he was ever hired ,as the Reds manager, would be everytime a pitcher got pulled, a pinch hitter wasn't used, or a line-up was changed - people would say "He must have money on the game." The constant second guessing would hurt Rose, the Reds, and MLB.

Though on the other hand I'd like to see him get into the HoF. That I think would be ok.Plus we'd also get to see cranky old Bob Feller get all bent out of shape at the awards ceremony.