Major League Baseball removed Pete Rose and other deceased players from MLB’s permanently ineligible list on Tuesday, an extraordinary twist to a saga that has gone on for more than three decades. The decision, announced by commissioner Rob Manfred in a letter to the Rose family’s attorney Jeffrey Lenkov, makes the sport’s all-time hit king eligible for election to the Hall of Fame.
Rose, who died from a heart condition last September at 83, was placed on MLB’s permanently ineligible list in 1989 for gambling on his team, the Cincinnati Reds, while he managed them. Rose, who collected a record 4,256 hits, has never been considered for the Hall of Fame because of a 1991 rule change that barred players on the ineligible list from election.
According to a statement from Major League Baseball, in a letter to Lenkov, Manfred wrote, “In my view, a determination must be made regarding how the phrase ‘permanently ineligible’ should be interpreted in light of the purposes and policies behind Rule 21, which are to: (1) protect the game from individuals who pose a risk to the integrity of the sport by prohibiting the participation of such individuals; and (2) create a deterrent effect that reduces the likelihood of future violations by others. In my view, once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served. 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.”
Manfred met in December with Lenkov, who represented Rose until his death, and Rose’s daughter, Fawn, to discuss the possibility of reinstatement. Rose’s family then filed a formal petition for reinstatement on Jan. 8, in hopes of a posthumous induction to the Hall of Fame.
Manfred’s ruling Tuesday also applies to 16 other deceased individuals, including Shoeless Joe Jackson.
In mid-April, Manfred met at the White House with President Trump, who tweeted support of Rose’s Hall of Fame case in 2020 and again after his death, writing: “Major League Baseball should have allowed him into the Hall of Fame many years ago. Do it now, before his funeral!”
Trump raised the issue again this March on Truth Social, calling for Rose to be elected to the Hall of Fame and saying that MLB “didn’t have the courage or decency” to allow him in.
“Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING,” Trump wrote. “He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history.”
Trump did not specify the infraction for which he would pardon Rose, who was not arrested for gambling. Rose served five months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges in 1990, but that was unrelated to his ban from baseball.
Rose had long been a presence on induction weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y., selling his autograph at a memorabilia shop on Main Street for years, including in 2024. Artifacts of his career are also displayed in the museum, and the library contains voluminous material and documents related to his legacy.
But Rose understood that he would never get the glory of the induction ceremony that comes with a spot in the hallowed plaque gallery.
“I’ve come to the conclusion – I hope I’m wrong – that I’ll make the Hall of Fame after I die,’” Rose said 10 days before his death in an interview with John Condit, a sportscaster in Dayton, Ohio. “Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. That’s what the Hall of Fame is for. Your fans and your family. And it’s for your family if you’re here. It’s for your fans if you’re here. Not if you’re 10 feet under.”
Players are initially voted on by a group of 400 or so baseball writers, but that window closes 15 years after the player’s final game. Players not elected by the writers are considered by a 16-person committee (with Hall of Famers, front-office members and historians) on a rotating basis, with candidates grouped from different eras.
“The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,” Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement Tuesday. “Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered. The Historical Overview Committee will develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee – which evaluates candidates who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1980 – to vote on when it meets next in December 2027.”
If he makes it onto that ballot, Rose would need 12 of 16 votes to be enshrined.
Rose was banned by Commissioner Bart Giamatti after a report by investigator John Dowd confirmed that he had violated Rule 21 (d) (2), which states: “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
Giamatti – who implored Rose to “reconfigure” his life as a condition of possible reinstatement – died of a heart attack eight days after the decision. Manfred is the third commissioner since then, following Fay Vincent and Bud Selig, and had rejected Rose’s petitions for reinstatement in 2015 and 2020.
“While it is my preference not to disturb decisions made by prior Commissioners, Mr. Rose was not placed on the permanently ineligible list by Commissioner action but rather as the result of a 1989 settlement of potential litigation with the Commissioner’s Office,” Manfred wrote Tuesday. “My decision today is consistent with Commissioner Giamatti’s expectations of that agreement.
“Commissioner Giamatti’s comments were completely reasonable given that, at the time, the Hall of Fame did not have a rule barring people on the permanently ineligible list from Hall of Fame consideration,” Manfred wrote. “In fact, Shoeless Joe Jackson was afforded the opportunity to be voted upon in 1936 and again in 1946.”
(Top photo of Pete Rose in 2017: Sam Greene / USA Today via Imagn Images)
