Reinstating Pete Rose would be a waste of time

MLB hit king Pete Rose passed away in late September, yet suddenly he’s once again the center of discussion. Two odd pieces of news came out within 24 hours.

First, on Friday, Donald Trump suggested that he would consider issuing a presidential pardon for Rose. The statement posted on his Truth Social platform focused on Rose’s placement on baseball’s permanent ineligible list:

There are a few issues here, the first being the obvious fact that pardons have nothing to do with baseball’s permanently ineligible list. One has zero impact on the other, particularly considering Rose wasn’t banned because of anything that he was charged and jailed for.

Rose was banned in 1989 for betting on baseball, perhaps the greatest sin a ballplayer can commit. Gambling has long been treated and punished far more severely than any other infraction of the league’s rules and conduct policies.

For years, he adamantly denied any wrongdoing before finally admitting to betting on baseball in a 2004 book. Rose applied for reinstatement in 2015 but was denied. Commissioner Rob Manfred has repeatedly stated over the years that he doesn’t feel it’s his office’s place to consider reinstatement so Rose can receive Hall of Fame consideration. He believes that’s the Hall of Fame’s decision.

Jon Dowd, who investigated Rose’s gambling at the request of Commissioner Fay Vincent, noted in a statement to ESPN that “MLB is not in the pardon business nor does it control admissions to the HOF.”

Rose did plead guilty to tax evasion charges in 1990. He served five months in prison. A pardon could exonerate him of those charges, but it’s hard to see what practical purpose that would serve.

Then, less than 24 hours later on Saturday, ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. reported that Commissioner Manfred was considering a reinstatement petition that had been submitted in early January. The filing was submitted to the league by Rose’s daughter, Fawn, and the family’s lawyer following a meeting in December with Manfred. The hope is specifically focused on getting the Hall of Fame to consider putting him on the ballot.

The rule preventing players placed on the permanently ineligible list from appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot was established by the Hall in 1991 and commonly became known as the “Pete Rose rule” for its connection to his banning. Representatives for the Hall have said that even after a player’s death, he cannot be considered while still on the permanently ineligible list.

Rose’s accomplishments as a player are hard to ignore. He slashed .303/.375/.409 (118 OPS+, i.e. he was 18% above league-average) over a 24-year career. He is still the all-time leader in games played, plate appearances, at bats, and hits. Rose won the Rookie of the Year Award, an MVP, three batting titles, a pair of Gold Gloves, and a Silver Slugger. He went to 17 All-Star Games and won three World Series.

Rose’s track record off the field, however, offers a much more divisive story the Hall of Fame voters likely wouldn’t ignore — if we’re assuming for a moment that they all look past the gambling.

As NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra wrote in 2017, Rose had filed a defamation suit against Dowd following comments made the year prior in a radio interview. Dowd had suggested that during his 1989 investigation into Rose’s gambling activities, he learned that Rose had a preference for underage girls. Just months after filing the defamation suit claiming the statements were false, a woman came forward attesting to a relationship she had with Rose when she was just a teenager (he would have been in his 30s).

Calcaterra, a former lawyer, noted that the legal age of consent in Ohio — where both Rose and the woman lived at the time — was 16, meaning the allegations amounted to statutory rape.

Even if Rose’s placement on the permanently ineligible list is overturned, it does not mean the Hall of Fame will actually consider placing him on the ballot.

Even if the Hall places him on the ballot, he wouldn’t face the usual selection process. With his last game coming so long ago, Rose would fall under the consideration of the Eras Committee as opposed to the normal ballot mailed to BBWAA writers. Given how the various voting bodies have looked on those involved in the steroids era, it’s hard to envision Rose seeing any real support from Hall of Fame voters.

It’s hard to see what the point of any of this comes down to.