2012 would be the perfect year to put Pete Rose on the HOF ballot

2012 is going to be a slow year for the HOF. Outside of Bernie Williams, there isn't a single player on the ballot for the first time who is even close to being HOF-worthy. I have a hard time seeing Bagwell, Palmeiro or Walker getting in within their first two years. Bagwell is the only player out of that group with a remote chance of getting in that early but I see the writers holding his lack of counting numbers (Bagwell had fewer than 500 HRs, 1000 extra base hits and 2500 base hits) against him. Blyleven and Alomar will be in next year. I believe the only player with a decent shot of being inducted in 2012 is Barry Larkin. But even that's a stretch. How often does a player go from receiving 51% of the votes to 75% in two years? Not many. So there's a good chance no players on the ballots will gets in. It'll be a very quiet year and the HOF will continue to lose money.

But if Selig allows Pete to be put on the ballots, he could generate a lot of intrigue and a lot of excitement back into the HOF voting process. There will be people all over the country talking about baseball again. The hoopla of Rose being inducted won't overshadow other recently inducted players since there likely won't be another player sharing the stage with him. Cooperstown will rake in a ton of dough from the increased attendance. It would be the best case scenario for everybody.