There is one other aspect to a lifetime ban - MLB teams cannot do anything to honor or mention that player. That's why the Reds put seven baseball bats in each of the two riverboat smoke stacks when Great American Ballpark was built - that was the closest thing they could do to paying any type of homage to Pete Rose.
Not sure if people read the entire article, but Manfred's comment:
"Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,"
Was actually a reference to something he said in 2015. Rose applied for reinstatement shortly after Manfred took over as commissioner, and Manfred said at the time:
"(Allowing Rose back into baseball was an) unacceptable risk of a future violation ... and thus to the integrity of our sport," Manfred declared on Dec. 14, 2015.
It's a difficult subject. It's really hard to apply any type of "morality" lens, because what is considered socially acceptable and socially reprehensible evolves over time. I hate to use this example, but it's the easiest to apply - racism was socially acceptable not that many years ago. And because of that, known racists were elected into the baseball Hall of Fame. Now we know that racism is socially reprehensible and nobody with any type of racist behavior would ever be elected today. Swearing on TV (not pay networks such as Netflix, HBO, Cinemax, etc.) used to be socially reprehensible; in recent years I've heard the F-bomb said on the USA network. I wasn't around, but it doesn't sound like many eyebrows were raised when Joe Jackson married a 15-year-old girl in 1908. Now that's not only socially reprehensible, but a felony. Ads for sports betting sites used to be banned; now they are all over MLB broadcasts and stadiums. "Greenies" in the clubhouse... it's a long list. Society changes.
The one thing that was and still is socially reprehensible is lying. And Pete Rose did that many times for many years.
I wouldn't support him being elected into the Hall of Fame. But if the Reds want to honor what he did for their franchise... whatever. It's easy for us to criticize the Reds if they do so, but many still revere a certain former Brewer who is in the Hall of Fame who admitted to using cocaine as a player. Lots of people have died or had their lives ruined by using cocaine, getting cocaine into the hands of wealthy Americans to make money, or trying to stop cocaine from getting into the hands of the wrong people. I guess, nobody died because Pete Rose lied.