MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering a petition filed by the family of Pete Rose to have Rose posthumously reinstated from the ineligible list, according to a report from Don Van Natta Jr. of ESPN. Rose passed away in September at the age of 83, and Van Natta notes that the petition was filed on January 8 following a conversation between Rose’s daughter Fawn, the family’s lawyer, and the commissioner’s office that took place on December 17.
The timing of the report is notable given that President Donald Trump commented on Rose late last night, suggesting that he would sign a posthumous pardon for Rose in the coming weeks. Qasim Nauman and Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times were among those who reported on Mr. Trump’s comments this morning. Such a pardon would have no bearing on Rose’s status within the game of baseball, and Nauman and Schmidt note that it would instead focus on a five-month sentence Rose served in federal prison back in 1990 after filing false income tax returns.
Tax issues, of course, are not the reason that Rose is currently on baseball’s permanently ineligible list. MLB announced late in the 1989 season that an investigation had revealed Rose had placed bets on baseball, including games his team was participating in, during his time as manager of the Reds. Subsequent reporting in the decades following Rose’s placement on the ineligible list indicated that Rose also placed bets during his time as a player. Rose never admitted to those allegations, though he did acknowledge that he had bet on baseball as a manager in 2004.
Rose only bet on his team to win, and there’s no evidence that he made an attempt to fix any MLB game. Even so, that’s a violation of MLB’s biggest rule and grounds for a lifetime ban, leading the league to place Rose on the permanently ineligible list. Not long after Rose’s ban, in 1991, the Hall of Fame announced a policy stating that anyone who was suspended from MLB for life was ineligible for induction. As such, Rose has never been on a Hall of Fame ballot, though there’s little question that a lifetime .303/.375/.409 hitter with the most career hits in MLB history and 79.5 bWAR would be a slam-dunk candidate for induction if looking exclusively at his numbers on the field.
Ever since Rose’s suspension, the hit king’s worthiness for a Hall of Fame induction has been a divisive topic among fans of the game. An icon of the game with hitting records that could very well prove virtually unbreakable and a staple of Reds history with three World Series championships under his belt, Rose was among the very best players of his era. He remains a controversial figure, however, particularly in an era where the Hall’s voters made the controversial decision not to elect other titans of the game such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to Cooperstown in light of their association with the league’s performance-enhancing drug scandal and baseball has had to reckon with the increased presence of sports betting not only within United States culture, but also as a partner of MLB and its clubs.
The possibility that Rose could be posthumously reinstated from the ineligible list is the latest development in that debate, and could theoretically open the door for Rose to be considered for entry into Cooperstown. Representatives of the Hall of Fame have previously stated that players who are on the permanently ineligible list will not be considered for induction even after death, suggesting that Rose’s passing will have no bearing on the Hall’s willingness to consider him. Van Natta notes, however, that Manfred reportedly views placement on the permanently ineligible list as a punishment that ends upon the player’s death for “all practical purposes.” Formally removing Rose from the ineligible list, then, could open the door for the Hall to reconsider its stance on Rose’s eligibility.
Notably, Manfred himself has made clear in the past that the Hall of Fame’s decisions regarding Rose or any other player do not fall under his purview. As relayed by Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com at the time, “It is not part of [MLB’s] authority or responsibility here to make any determination concerning Mr. Rose’s eligibility as a candidate for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame… any debate over Mr. Rose’s eligibility for the Hall of Fame is one that must take place in a different forum.”
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