By Josh Dubow
The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Pete Rose has been banned from baseball long enough, according to many of the game's current managers.

"He's paid his penance big time, not being allowed in the ballpark for 10 or 15 years," Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker said Saturday from the winter meetings.

"It's like a doctor not being allowed to operate or a teacher not being allowed to teach. You don't have to go to jail to be punished. Sometimes exile is enough of a punishment."

Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball on Aug. 23, 1989, following an investigation of his gambling. While Rose denied gambling on baseball, commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti said he concluded the 17-time All-Star bet on games involving his own Cincinnati Reds.

But after 13 years away from the game, Rose is talking with commissioner Bud Selig about being allowed to return. None of the 14 others banned for life for gambling were ever reinstated.

"I think the passage of time outweighs the wrongdoing," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "I believe the man has paid his price. The amount of support he gets outweighs everything. I was listening to a radio show the other night and the callers were 20-1 in favor of him."

While Selig is willing to allow Rose back in, Rose will have to admit he bet on baseball as part of any agreement. He has been pushed to make the admission by Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt, and at the meeting last month, Schmidt was among those in attendance.

In addition to becoming eligible for the Hall of Fame, an end to the ban would allow the former Cincinnati manager to work for a team.

"My stance has always been that Pete certainly belongs in the Hall of Fame," Mets manager Art Howe said. "I certainly believe he belongs in the Hall of Fame but as far as being back in baseball, that's very different."

Rose was always a great ambassador for baseball, inspiring fans with the aggressive play that earned him the moniker "Charlie Hustle," and promoting the game off the field.

"I think one of the biggest things wrong with the game today is our young people, they don't know the history of the game," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "You ask who Wally Pipp is, maybe they won't be able to tell you. I think Pete could help with that."

There is some sentiment that if Rose is inducted into the Hall that his plaque should have some recognition of his wrongdoing. Hargrove disagrees.

"I think either you do it or not," he said. "I would hate to see a plaque with Pete Rose on the wall that said, 'He would have been here 13 years earlier if he hadn't gotten in trouble with gambling."'

Rose has remained popular with fans. Baseball allowed him to appear on the field before World Series games in 1999 and this year to participate in ceremonies staged by a sponsor. At both Atlanta's Turner Field and San Francisco's Pacific Bell Park, Rose was given the longest ovation of all the baseball stars introduced.

Rose, baseball's career hits leader, has maintained that he never bet on baseball.

John Dowd, hired to investigate Rose in 1989 for Giamatti, issued a report that detailed 412 baseball wagers between April 8 and July 5, 1987, including 52 on Cincinnati to win. Evidence included betting slips alleged to be in Rose's handwriting, and phone and bank records.