No question about it Pete Rose was great as a baseball player. Twice in the 1970s the Cincinnati Reds player earned the honors of Most Valuable Player. In the late 1980s he surpassed another baseball great — Ty Cobb — in number of hits reaching 4,256 from 1963 to 1986. That beats Cobb’s record by less than 100 hits.

However, like all of us, Rose is flawed.

But that flaw violated a significant rule in Major League baseball.

A player cannot bet on his own team and that certainly includes the team’s manager both roles Rose played in his professional career.

That meant a lifetime ban from the sport that made him famous and rich. Rose accepted that ban when Major League Baseball investigators determined he had placed bets on the Reds for three years in the 1980s.

There are many today who believe that ban is too harsh. They cite Rose’s amazing record. That those kinds of feats have inspired many, including young children, to strive for success.

That’s true, but the backbone of any sport is the concept of sportsmanship, which to read news accounts, seems often tragically lacking in professional sports.

That’s why the current baseball commissioner Rob Manfred was right to deny Rose’s latest application for reinstatement.

Not because baseball should be an unforgiving sport. Quite the contrary. The decision was not based as much on Rose’s past as on his present, where he continues to gamble and then lied about it. Admitting that lie later doesn’t cut it.

Every time a player takes to the mound or the gridiron he is representing more than himself. He should be representing integrity.