Baseball Commish Manfred Considering Re-Instating Pete Rose – Too Little, Too Late
Baseball waited too long to honor one of its greatest players. It’s a shame Rose, who recently passed away at age 83, did not get to bask in the honor of being enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
By Scott Mandel
Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering a petition filed on Jan. 8 by Pete Rose’s family to have Major League Baseball’s all-time hit leader posthumously removed from baseball’s ineligible list, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN on Saturday.
Jeffrey Lenkov, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented Rose prior to his death at age 83 in late September, said he filed the reinstatement petition after he and Fawn Rose, the oldest daughter of Pete Rose, met with Manfred and MLB spokesman Pat Courtney in the commissioner’s office on Dec. 17.
“The commissioner was respectful, gracious, and actively participated in productive discussions regarding removing Rose from the ineligible list,” Lenkov said of the one-hour meeting in the commissioner’s office. Lenkov said he is seeking Rose’s removal from MLB’s banned list for betting on baseball “so that we could seek induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which had long been his desire and is now being sought posthumously by his family.”
Whether a coincidence or related, the timing of MLB considering reinstatement of Rose came on the heels of President Donald Trump saying he would pardon Rose.
“Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete pardon of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on his team winning,” Trump wrote on social media.
“He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in history.”
Rose is MLB’s all-time hit king (4,256), and the leader in career games (3,562), at-bats (14,053) and plate appearances (15,890).
While Rose remained banned from baseball, he was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2016 and had a statue erected outside the main gates of Great American Ball Park in 2017. The Reds also retired Rose’s No. 14 jersey.
In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame passed a rule that deems any player on MLB’s ineligible list also cannot appear on the Hall of Fame ballot. The stipulation is known as the Pete Rose Rule.
Too late, Lord of Baseball. You and former commissioner, Bud Selig screwed up. You should have let Pete Rose bask in his greatness.
Who is on MLB’s ineligible list?
The list of those banned under commissioner Manfred includes Jenrry Mejía (2016), Chris Correa (2017), John Coppolella (2017), Brandon Taubman (2019), Roberto Alomar (2021), Mickey Callaway (2021) and Tucupita Marcano (2024).
