It is Baseball's fault (Pete Rose)

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Rose is the man with the disease. Punishment of a person for being sick is wrong. Many employers assist persons with the disease of harmful addictions by means including diagnosis, treatment and support. Baseball agrees with this approach, as evidenced by their actions with Strawberry and others.

Admittedly, drug addiction is simpler to diagnose than gambling is. However, the following guidelines represent the current thinking regarding diagnosis of gambling addiction:

(1) you have "preoccupation with gambling; (2) a need to increase the excitement produced by gambling; (3) restlessness or irritability when unable to gamble; (4) repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop gambling; (5) gambling in an effort to get back money lost during gambling on a previous day; (6) gambling in an effort to escape" an unpleasant "mood; (7) lying to cover up gambling; (8) jeopardizing a significant job, relationship, or educational opportunity by gambling (9) engaging in illegal activity to finance gambling; and (10) going to someone else to relieve a desperate financial situation produced by gambling. An individual who fulfills five out of the ten criteria is diagnosed as a pathological gambler. Problem gamblers would satisfy only two, three, or four of these criteria".

I wonder how many of us feel that Rose never exhibited five or more of these characteristics.