Efforts to get Pete Rose into Cooperstown took a step forward Tuesday.
Rose, MLB's all-time hit king who was ousted for gambling, was removed from Major League Baseball's permanently ineligible list after MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced players' ineligibility from the game ends upon their deaths.
"Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game," Manfred wrote in a letter, obtained by ESPN, to attorney Jeffrey M. Lenkov.
"Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve. Therefore, I have concluded that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual, and Mr. Rose will be removed from the permanently ineligible list."
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MLB made the announcement in a press release.
"This issue has never been formally addressed by Major League Baseball, but an application filed by the family of Pete Rose has made it incumbent upon the Office of the Commissioner to reach a policy decision on this unprecedented issue in the modern era as Mr. Rose is the first person banned after the tenure of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to die while still on the ineligible list. Commissioner Manfred has concluded that MLB's policy shall be that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual," MLB said.
Rose admitted to gambling in 2004 after years of claiming his innocence. He died in September and predicted 10 days before his death he would not make the Hall of Fame until after he died, if at all.
It was found that Rose gambled on the Reds, only to win, while he was both a manager and a player.
President Donald Trump announced in March he would pardon Rose, who served five months in prison in 1990. In 2017, Rose was accused of statutory rape from an encounter decades earlier.
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"Major League Baseball didn't have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose, also known as 'Charlie Hustle,' into the Baseball Hall of fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, even though he was a FAR BETTER PLAYER than most of those who made it, and can only be named posthumously. WHAT A SHAME!" Trump posted.
"Anyway, 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. 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 sports history. Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy a--, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!"
Trump and Manfred met last month.
In 1991, two years after Rose was banned by A. Bartlett Giamatti, the National Baseball Hall of Fame voted to make those ineligible from baseball also ineligible for potential induction into Cooperstown. It is not yet clear when Rose will be up for a vote, but ESPN notes it will likely be up to the Classic Baseball Era Committee, which considers players whose careers ended more than 15 years ago. That committee does not meet until December 2027, and he would need 12 of the 16 votes to get in.
Manfred's decision comes one day before the Reds host "Pete Rose Night." Rose had applied for reinstatement several times, but Manfred declined, at one time citing a "risk of future violation."
The ruling also effectively increases "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's chances of getting into Cooperstown. He was accused of taking part in the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Seven others were then banned from the game for fixing the World Series that year.
Overall, 17 players are now baseball eligible.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.
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