Pete Rose Disappointed In Decision To Keep Him Out Of Baseball

MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred denied Pete Rose’s petition to be reinstated into the Major Leagues, likely ending Rose’s hopes of inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

Rose was permanently banned from the MLB in 1989 after then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti determined Rose had bet on baseball games while a manager for the Cincinnati Reds. In 1991, the National Baseball Hall of Fame passed a rule banning players who were permanently ineligible from induction into the Hall.

Rose had previously applied for reinstatement twice, in 1992 and 1999. Both times his appeals garnered no official response from Fay Vincent or Bud Selig, the commissioners at the time. This latest appeal was filed on March of this year with new commissioner Rob Manfred. Manfred met with  Rose in September to discuss his reinstatement, but ultimately decided not to lift Rose’s ban. Sportswriter Craig Calcaterra says this is because Rose has not sufficiently changed since he was banned.

Rose challenges this interpretation. While he admits that he continues to gamble, he believes he has fulfilled a directive from Bart Giamatti calling for him to change his life. He ardently claims all the gambling he does now is legal, he stays away from elements that could sabotage him, and that he is a different person than the one who was banned in 1989. He claims now he is just living his life.

The decision to keep him out, though, is no necessarily a nail in his Hall of Fame dream’s coffin. The Hall of Fame and the MLB work separately from one another, and the Hall could choose to reinstate Rose and let him in. This decision seems unlikely though, given that the original rule to keep out permanently ineligible players was widely seen as being directed at Rose himself, and Manfred also serves on the Board of Directors of the Hall.

In this, Rose is disappointed in Manfred’s decision to keep him out. Though he seems to understand his chances of reinstatement were slim, he remains optimistic about his place in baseball and will continue to root for the sport.