Two Ohio lawmakers are now in a legal fight to get Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame.
MLB's all-time hit king has been banned from the league for gambling on baseball during his playing and managerial days, a ban the Hall of Fame has honored.
However, as he is now 83 years old, the popular belief is that the Hall of Fame will lift the ban after he dies, and the lawmakers want Rose to live to see his own potential plaque in Cooperstown.
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Reps. Bill Seitz and Tom Young are co-sponsoring a resolution asking MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to lift MLB's ban on Rose, which in turn would lead to making him eligible to be voted into Cooperstown. Resolutions have no legal force.
"From the standpoint of talent in the game, there's nobody better. Period," Seitz said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer, adding that it is "hypocritical" MLB has had ties to gambling sites but continues to leave Rose banned from the game.
In November 2022, Rose wrote a letter to Manfred "asking for your forgiveness," saying it was his "dream to be considered for the Hall of Fame." He had previously applied for reinstatement four other times.
However, last July, Manfred said Rose "violated… rule one in baseball, and the consequences of that are clear."
Rose was placed on baseball's permanently ineligible list by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti – who served just five months as MLB's commissioner before dying of a heart attack – in 1989, just one week before Giamatti's passing. Rose denied the claims for years but finally admitted to betting on baseball and Reds games in 2004.
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Rose has admitted he continues to bet on baseball, which has plagued him and his reinstatement hopes.
Rose has made several appearances at MLB stadiums over the years since being banned, the first time when he was named to the All-Century Team in a pregame ceremony before Game 2 of the 1999 World Series. He also appeared in a celebration for the 25th anniversary of him becoming the Hit King in 2010, as well as the festivities for the 2015 All Star Game in Cincinnati. In August 2022, he went to Citizens Bank Park to celebrate the 1980 Phillies, who won the World Series that year.
Rose is a 17-time All Star and hit .303 over his career, during which he won three World Series. His 4,256 career hits remain an all-time record.
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