Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s disgraced “Hit King” who helped the Phillies win a World Series but was later banned from the sport for gambling violations, will be allowed to enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame despite decades of being denied entry.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, in a sudden, landmark statement released on Tuesday, announced that Rose, the sport’s all-time hits leader, and anyone else banned from the game for life would have their “permanent ineligibility” lifted “upon the passing of the disciplined individual."
Rose died on Sept. 30, 2024. He was 83.
The statement released by Major League Baseball said the issue of posthumous reinstatement was first raised by the Rose family, leading Manfred to consider a policy change, noting that Rose is the “first person banned after the tenure of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to die while still on the ineligible list.”
The statement added: “Commissioner Manfred has concluded that MLB’s policy shall be that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual.”
Support for Rose came from the Phillies and from legendary Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt, a Hall of Famer and former Rose teammate.
"As one of the greatest players in the history of the game, Pete made significant on-field contributions to the Phillies over his five seasons (1979-83) with the club, highlighted by our first World Series title in 1980," the Phillies said in a statement.
Schmidt's statement called Manfred's decision "a great day for baseball," adding that the "ongoing question of whether Pete Rose should or shouldn’t be in the Hall will be answered by a select panel in the next Classic Baseball Era Committee."
This policy change also applies to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, a former White Sox star who was banned for life by Landis in 1921 for an alleged involvement in a World Series-fixing scandal. Jackson died on Dec. 5, 1951.
Rose has always been a polarizing figure. He was a hero for baseball fans nationally, who adored his relentless style of play that earned him the nickname “Charlie Hustle,” but he was also despised by many for his gambling controversy and other legal issues throughout his life.
Rose was issued a permanent ban from baseball in 1989 by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti when MLB accused him of gambling on games while he played for and managed the Reds.
In 1989, the Baseball Hall of Fame voted to ban anyone who was deemed permanently ineligible from being inducted into the Hall. In 2004, Rose admitted to betting on baseball and the Reds.
There’s no question Rose was an elite baseball player worthy of enshrinement.
Rose was a three-time World Series champion who also won three batting titles, an MVP, Rookie of The Year, and two Gold Gloves.
He ascended to prominence with the Cincinnati Reds in the 1970s, helping lead the “Big Red Machine” to two championships before coming to the Phillies in 1979 and helping the franchise win its first World Series in 1980 over the Kansas City Royals.
But he also has a checkered history with the law. In 1990, he pled guilty to filing false income tax returns and was sentenced to five months in a minimum security prison camp. He also once admitted to having a sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s, but claimed that he didn’t know the woman was under legal age, an admission that caused the Phillies to cancel a Wall of Fame ceremony in his honor during their annual Alumni Weekend in 2017.
He made headlines with his presence at the 2022 Phillies Alumni Weekend when he told a female reporter asking about his relationship with that minor that, "It was 55 years ago, babe."
In the statement, Manfred said:
“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. 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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