Pete Rose’s chances of reinstatement by Major League Baseball seem to be improving.
Baseball's all-time hits leader deserves “a fair, full hearing,” commissioner Rob Manfred said this week. Manfred made his comments during an interview with NBC News' Chuck Todd for Sunday's "Meet The Press."
MORE: Classic Pete Rose photos | Pedro Martinez says Rose should be in Hall | Investigator opposes reinstatement
Manfred indicated Rose's potential eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame might be tied to how he decides on Rose's reinstatement.
"I think it's hard to look at the issue and not separate the question of whether someone who bet on baseball should ever be involved with the play of the game on the field again, from the question of whether somebody ought to be in the Hall of Fame," Manfred told Todd, the show's moderator, during the interview at Yankee Stadium.
Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 after an investigation found he had bet on games. He filed a request for reinstatement in March.
Manfred's predecessor, Bud Selig, declined to take up previous requests by Rose.
If Manfred reinstates Rose, then the decision to vote him into Baseball’s Hall of Fame would fall to the Expansion Era Committee, not the Baseball Writers' Association of America.