Pete Rose Reinstated, Could Reach Hall Of Fame In Class Of 2028

Pete Rose didn’t live to see it but he could still earn his coveted plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Commissioner Rob Manfred removed him from baseball’s ineligible list Tuesday, making it likely his name will appear on the ballot of the Classic Baseball Era Committee’s next vote, scheduled for December 2027.

Rose, the lifetime leader in hits with 4,256, had been banned since 1989, when then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti determined he had bet on games as manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

He also spent the majority of his playing career with that team, winning Rookie of the Year, MVP, and World Series MVP awards while making the All-Star team 17 times in his 24-year career.

Jack-of-all-trades

A three-time batting champion, Rose was also one of the game’s most versatile players. A switch-hitter, he actually started All-Star games at five different positions, including first, second, and third base as well as the outfield corners.

Although Rose had requested reinstatement numerous times, he died last September at age 83 before that happened.

This year, however, his daughter Fawn filed a petition for instatement in January and later met with Manfred. A month later, President Trump endorsed the idea in a social media post and also met with the Commissioner.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Rose attorney Jeffrey Lenkov laid the groundwork after periodic meetings with Manfred and other executives from the Office of the Commissioner.

“The Rose family and I are extremely overjoyed at the wisdom, courage and compassion exhibited by the commissioner,” Lenkov told the newspaper. “The reinstatement is a historic moment because many people, including Pete, thought the ban would never be lifted.”

Every baseball clubhouse has a large sign warning uniformed personnel against betting on games. Dozens of players, coaches, and managers – notably Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven Chicago teammates implicated in the Black Sox Scandal that surrounded the fixing of the 1919 World Series – have been suspended for violating the rule.

Rule 21(d) 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.”

Jackson, whose .375 batting average led both teams in the 1919 World Series, also won reinstatement from Major League Baseball Tuesday and could join Rose in Cooperstown. He had been banned by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in 1920.

A Cincinnati native who broke Ty Cobb’s hits record in 1985, Rose had always displayed keen interest in Cooperstown. In fact, he was a regular autograph signer during Induction Weekend, often meeting fans and supporters in a private store on Main Street just blocks from the Hall of Fame itself.

Cincinnati Celebrates

The reinstatement news will be celebrated in Cincinnati Wednesday, when Great American Ballpark holds Pete Rose Night.

His actual enshrinement will now be subject to the 16-man Classic Era committee, made up of incumbent Hall of Famers, historians, and writers. To win election, any candidate would need at least 12 votes, matching the 75 per cent required during the “regular” election held each January.

That committee, which elected former MVPs Dick Allen and Dave Parker to the Class of 2025, will consider players who made their greatest impact before 1980. It meets on a rotating basis every three years.

Though he denied the charges for years, Rose allegedly bet on the Cincinnati Reds when he was the team’s player-manager in 1985 and 1986 and as manager in 1987. The 225-page John Dowd report released by MLB in 1989 identified men with whom Rose allegedly placed bets.

Some baseball writers, unhappy with their inability to vote for Rose, returned blank ballots in protest of the Hall of Fame’s 1991 decision to disqualify anyone on MLB’s ineligible list.

Selling Autographs

Rose probably made more money selling his signature than he ever did as a player. He also operated a restaurant in Boca Raton, FL.

According to Baseball Reference, Rose made $46,000 in his first year, 1967, and a peak of $1 million as Cincinnati player-manager. After the 1978 season, he was one of the first major free agents to change teams, jumping from the Reds to the Phillies after accepting a four-year, $3,225,000 contract offer.

In his second season on the East Coast, he added to his coffers when he helped lead the Phils to their first world championship. It was one of three World Series rings he won during his career.

He had a .303 career batting average.