Should Pete Rose be eligible for the MLB Hall of Fame?
Pete Rose's family wants him off baseball’s ineligible list—opening the door to Cooperstown. MLB is reviewing the case, and for the all-time hits leader, the Hall of Fame debate is back on. Should his legacy be rewritten, or is the ban still deserved?
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering a petition filed in January by Pete Rose's family to have the controversial figure posthumously removed from baseball's ineligible list, according to a new ESPN report.
If Rose were to be removed, it would open up a pathway to Cooperstown for MLB’s all-time hits leader, potentially taking him from the Hall of Shame → Hall of Fame.
Background: Rose was banned – or put on the permanent ineligible list – in 1989 by commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (the father of Paul Giamatti) for betting on baseball, though he denied it for years. Only when he wrote a book in 2004 did he admit to gambling on baseball as a manager, saying he solely bet on the Cincinnati Reds (his team) to win. ESPN later reported that Rose bet as a player, however, though he denied it to the grave.
A complicated history
On the field, announcers referred to him as “Pete Rose.” But off the field, his persona was more “Rete Pose” – and this dichotomy was on full display for decades.
The legend: Rose's baseball career is undeniable. He finished with 4,256 hits (#1 on the all-time list), made 17 All-Star Games, won three World Series, and earned an NL MVP award.
His on-field playing style, famously captured in this pic of a slide into third base, earned him the moniker “Charlie Hustle” – which, in both oft-tossed-around origin stories, was originally bestowed as an insult. He took it up as a badge of honor instead.
The man: But as they say, every Rose has its thorns – and no place were those more visible than off the field.
Rose spent five months in prison in the early 1990s for tax evasion. In the early 2000s, commissioner Bud Selig offered him an opportunity for reinstatement with conditions: admit to gambling on baseball, no more gambling, and no more casino appearances (Rose refused). And in 2017, a woman filed a sworn statement alleging she had a sexual relationship with Rose in the 1970s before she turned 16 years old, the age of consent in Ohio. Rose, who was 34 and married at the time of the alleged relationship, acknowledged it but said he believed it began in 1975, when the girl was 16.
Big picture: In 2015, the last time the topic of reinstatement came up, Manfred refused to take Rose off the ineligible list for failing to “present credible evidence of a reconfigured life.” But in this case, that may not matter.
Rose passed away last September at the age of 83. And Manfred has held some sentiment that placement on the ineligible list is a penalty that ends with the individual’s death – an opinion shared by John Thorn, MLB’s official historian.
Flash poll: Time to put on the commissioner’s hat: Should Pete Rose be removed from MLB’s ineligible list and made eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame?
