Manfred says Rose requested ban be lifted
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Baseball hit king Pete Rose requested to have his ban from the game lifted, new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred revealed Monday.
“I do have a formal request from Pete. I will be in communications with his representatives,” Manfred said at a Q&A with Dodgers writers and a couple of others here.
“I’m prepared to deal with that request on its merits,” Manfred also said.
Rose was suspended for betting on baseball by commissioner Bart Giamatti in 1989, and his occasional requests of commissioner Bud Selig to be allowed back into the game were not approved, but Rose may see a potential opening for reinstatement with Manfred’s appointment in January.
Selig was very close to Giamati, though it’s not known how that relationship affected Selig’s thinking on the matter. Manfred, a protege of Selig, has not signaled which way he may lean on the issue, if any.
Manfred said he would like to take time to review the paperwork of Giamatti and investigator John Dowd, who filed the report on Rose’s betting for MLB. Rose denied for many years that he had bet on baseball, but eventually admitted he bet on baseball, and his own Reds team, while managing the Reds.
Manfred said he has received no lobbying from the Hall of Fame regarding Rose. The presumption is that he’d be allowed on the Hall of Fame ballot if he were to be readmitted to the game.
There seems to be a fair amount of public sympathy for Rose, the all-time hits leader who’s paid a steep price for his transgressions.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he didn’t want to weigh in on the ultimate decision, saying, “I’m not going to get into all the politics. I just think Pete’s a great player.” Mattingly obviously likes Rose. He recalled him advising the young Mattingly, “Two hundred hits a year, kid. Just get 200 hits a year.”
Mattingly suggested it wasn’t his place to say how he felt about a Rose reinstatement, but there seemed to be just a hint of sympathy from something Mattingly said. Though he made clear he didn’t want to say what he thinks Manfred should do, Mattingly said,“I think there’s going to come a time where we all kinda move on.”
Pete Rose is once again attempting to be reinstated, this time through a new commish. (USATSI)
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