It's time to clean up your life, Pete Rose

Pete Rose is in a fight, the battle of his life, and I'm not talking about the Hall of Fame. \nBaseball's all-time hit king is facing his toughest pitch yet. He needs to get ahead, stay focused and believe he can cure himself.\nFor Charlie Hustle is stricken with the sickness of a gambling addiction -- a far more serious issue than votes for the Hall of Fame. \nAfter 14 years of denial and in-our-face lying, Rose came forward and admitted his gambling problem. \nWell, Pete, congratulations for completing step one of a 12-step, up-hill struggle against your addiction.\nOr maybe, the player who exemplified hard work and who constantly gave up his body for the sake of his team, cares so much about the Hall of Fame that he's overlooking his own treatment. \nPete Rose was and still may be sick. Not to the level of before, but his dream of the Hall of Fame is buried underneath the integrity he stole from baseball and its fans.\nA place in Cooperstown's museum of baseball greatness would solidify his beknown accomplishments on the field, but completely curing his gambling addiction would earn him respect off the field, a place he lost it nearly 15 years go.\nFour percent of our country suffers from a serious gambling addiction -- something baseball recognizes in a mere brochure for all the players.\nIt has become so prominent that today 120,000 Gamblers Anonymous chapters exist to guide addicts through treatment. \nThat's 240 chapters per state; here in Indiana, more than 10 meetings a week occur just in Indianapolis. \nBut in his recent book, "My Prison Without Bars," Rose is referring to his prison as baseball's lifetime ban set forth by the late former commissioner Bart Giamatti and former deputy commissioner Fay Vincent and not his serious addiction to gambling, which is the addiction that most often leads to suicide. \nA gambling addiction is as dangerous as alcoholism, drug use or obesity, but all anyone, including Rose, mentions is his fight for the Hall of Fame. \nRose telling ABC's Charlie Gibson during his Primetime interview that he is not an addict is hard to believe. After 15 years of lying, trust is not on his side. \nEven so, unconvinced by his denial of an addiction, I decided to ask the pros, the people who deal with the problem everyday -- Gamblers Anonymous. \nBased on the 20 questions GA offers for self-discovery of an addiction, a typical addict answers 'yes' to at least seven.\nBased on public information, Pete Rose would answer yes to three of the first four: using work time to gamble, reputation being affected and having remorse after admission. The remaining questions could only be answered by Rose himself. \nHe may have lied to us for 15 years, but Pete for your own good, stop cheating yourself. \nAlso, former teammate and current Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt told ABC the only way Rose would be fully forgiven by baseball is if he never gambled again. \nThat is, if Rose were to be reinstated, he could not be found at the horse track the next day.\nWell, that could be a problem considering he just bought a share of a horse track where he constantly puts bets on horses.\nGive it up Pete. \nYou will only be allowed into baseball with a clean slate and that includes up to the present day. No more betting. \nIt would be like allowing a convicted murderer to keep a gun in his house, but just for fun. Not going to happen.\nYou may only have a few more years of eligibility for entry into the Hall of Fame, but you have the rest of your life to clean and live in your and your fans' respect.\nBy doing so, you'd be a Hall-of-Famer in my book.