By Ronald Blum
The Associated Press

NEW YORK - The federal judge who sent Pete Rose to prison thinks the banned former star belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Rose was sentenced in 1990 to five months in prison, three months in a halfway house and 1,000 hours of community service by U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel following a guilty please to two felony counts of failure to report income.

The career hits leader is in tax trouble again. Rose owes $151,689 in federal taxes from 1998, according to the Los Angeles County Recorder's Office. The Internal Revenue Service has filed a lien on a home he owns in suburban Los Angeles, property tax records show.

"I have no knowledge about his current issues other than what I read in the papers," Spiegel said Wednesday during a telephone interview from his office in Cincinnati. "But I think he should be in the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the ballfield."

Rose has been negotiating with baseball commissioner Bud Selig to gain reinstatement. As long as he's on the permanently banned list, he's ineligible for the U.S. Hall of Fame.

The tax troubles and reports that Rose was seen last week in Las Vegas casinos came at the same time Selig's security officials have been investigating Rose's current activities.

The new revelations could hurt his chances for election to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, which has put him on its 46-person ballot.

"I would think our selection committee would like to see the muddy waters cleared," Canadian Hall president Tom Valcke said.

"I wouldn't say for sure that these things hurt his chances, but they certainly didn't make them any better," he said.

During Rose's sentencing in 1990, Spiegel said "today we are not dealing with the legend. History and the tincture of time will decide his place among the all-time greats of baseball.

"With regard to Pete Rose, the individual, he has broken the law, admitted his guilt, and stands ready to pay the penalty."

Rose admitted he hid $354,968 in income from memorabilia sales, autograph appearances and gambling earnings from 1984-87, offenses punishable by up to six years in prison.

"My work with him was completed when he finished his probation," Spiegel said. "He fulfilled his sentence as required by the law, both in prison and the halfway house, and in community service. The reports I got back on him when he served when all favorable. As far as I'm concerned, he paid his debt to society."

Rose spent most of his career with the Cincinnati Reds and was their manager when he agreed to the ban in 1989 following an investigation of his gambling.

Baseball investigator John Dowd detailed 412 baseball wagers by Rose between April 8-July 5, 1987, including 52 on Cincinnati to win.

Rose, who repeatedly has denied he bet on baseball, applied for reinstatement in September 1997, and Selig didn't rule on it, saying he saw no reason to alter the ban.

But talks began late in 2001, and Rose met with Selig in Milwaukee on Nov. 25.

Rose, who played part of the 1984 season for Montreal, was nominated for the Canadian Hall based on him getting his 4,000th career hit while playing for the Expos. Inductees will be announced Feb. 24.

Valcke said his hall's board met last Thursday to consider whether Rose should be ineligible for the Canadian shrine in spite of his permanent ban from the major leagues. The board decided that Rose would remain eligible.

"Our selection committee is fairly conservative," Valcke said. "Our board has great faith in them."

Selig has said he intends to meet with the 58 living members of the U.S. Hall. The meeting, originally contemplated for Jan. 17, was pushed back and Selig's aides say they still intend to reschedule it.

The Associated Press' Ben Walker contributed to this report.