Pete Rose will not be reinstated by Major League Baseball

Marc Lancaster

Pete Rose will not be reinstated by Major League Baseball image

Appealing to a new commissioner didn't change the outcome for Pete Rose.

Rob Manfred has decided not to reinstate Rose from the lifetime ban handed down by 26 years ago, Major League Baseball announced Monday.

Rose, 74, has appealed for reinstatement several times in recent years but was always rebuffed by Manfred's predecessor, Bud Selig. Manfred indicated shortly after taking over as commissioner in January that he would be open to hearing Rose's side of the story, and the two ultimately met face-to-face at MLB's Manhattan offices in September.

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But Manfred will stick to the line established by the late Bart Giamatti, who presided over the initial investigation into Rose's gambling in 1989. Rose will continue to be barred from associating with any major league or affiliated minor league team but will be allowed to participate in preapproved ceremonial activities, such as his role in this year's All-Star game in Cincinnati.

Manfred said in his decision that he requested a "comprehensive review" of Rose's situation by MLB staff, including material not available when the ban was put in place. That evidence didn't help Rose's case, and might actually have hurt it. The revelation this summer of a notebook that indicated Rose bet on Reds games in 1986 while he was still an active player is cited prominently by Manfred.

The commissioner said Rose admitted in their September meeting to betting "extensively" on Reds games in 1987, and acknowledged he currently bets legally on baseball, horse racing and other sports.

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"In short," Manfred wrote, "Mr. Rose has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing … or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of all the circumstances that led to his permanent ineligiblity in 1989."

Manfred said earlier this year that he had a difficult time parsing the two-pronged dilemma a potential reinstatement would present. While bringing Rose back into good graces would make the game's all-time hits leader eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame, it also would allow him to be employed by a team again.

Most around the game don't seem to have a problem with the former, but baseball clearly has concerns about the latter, though it's highly unlikely Rose would ever be put in a position to directly influence the outcome of games as he did while managing in Cincinnati before the ban.

In his decision, Manfred emphasized that the only matter before him was Rose's official association with the game itself. 

"It is not a part of my 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," Manfred wrote. "In fact, in my view, the considerations that should drive a decision on whether an individual should be allowed to work in Baseball are not the same as those that should drive a decision on Hall of Fame eligibility."

The Hall of Fame could change its rules to allow the enshrinement of players on baseball's banned list — Shoeless Joe Jackson being the most notable besides Rose — but the powers that be in Cooperstown have shown no indications they're inclined to do so.

Marc Lancaster

Marc Lancaster Photo

Marc Lancaster joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working closely with TSN for five years as an editor for the company now known as Stats Perform. He previously worked as an editor at The Washington Times, AOL’s FanHouse.com and the old CNNSportsIllustrated.com, and as a beat writer covering the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and University of Georgia football and women’s basketball. A Georgia graduate, he has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2013.