Manfred’s decision to reinstate Rose raises questions about what’s next

Pete Rose in 1972 (Wikipedia)

By Ken Rosenthal / The Athletic

The first question about Pete Rose’s reinstatement is obvious: Why did Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, reverse course? Though Rose’s lawyer and oldest daughter surely made heartfelt pleas on behalf of Rose, the career hits leader, it is reasonable to wonder if pressure on Manfred from President Donald Trump had a greater impact.

If Trump did indeed help persuade the commissioner, it leads to another question: Can the president succeed in lobbying Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame? Influencing the Hall’s committee process might be more challenging, but after Manfred’s stunning decision Tuesday to posthumously remove Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson and others from MLB’s permanently ineligible list, who can say for sure?

Rose, who died last Sept. 30, wanted nothing more than to be enshrined in Cooperstown, but said on multiple occasions that it would never happen while he was alive. His former lawyer, Jeffrey Lenkov, and oldest daughter, Fawn Rose, met with Manfred on Dec. 17 about taking the first step in that effort, and removing him from the ineligible list. Trump, who has been quite public in his support of Rose, met with Manfred at the White House on April 17. Manfred acknowledged Rose was a point of discussion.

The ban Rose accepted in 1989 for betting on baseball was a permanent one, not a lifetime one. Based on that language alone, Manfred could have reasonably justified extending the penalty into perpetuity. In 2022, after receiving a letter from Rose asking for forgiveness, Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, “I believe that when you bet on baseball, from Major League Baseball’s perspective, you belong on the permanently ineligible list.”

But in a letter to Lenkov, who had petitioned Manfred for Rose’s reinstatement, the commissioner wrote Tuesday, “In my view, a determination must be made regarding how the phrase ‘permanently ineligible’ should be interpreted regarding Rule 21,” which addresses betting on baseball by people in the sport. “Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game.”

Did Rose’s death soften Manfred? Was the case presented to the commissioner by Rose’s lawyer and daughter singularly moving? Doubtful on both counts, considering Manfred’s resistance to reinstating Rose in the past. Only after Trump entered the picture did the commissioner do an about-face.

Manfred is nothing if not shrewd. He surely did not want to risk the president embarrassing him publicly on social media. He also probably did not want to get on Trump’s wrong side at a time when he is pushing for a direct-to-consumer streaming service for the league and the migration from broadcast to streaming by professional sports leagues is under government scrutiny. Also, while Trump is known to be pro-management, it is not out of the realm of possibility that, if sufficiently annoyed, he could threaten baseball’s antitrust exemption.

Reinstating Rose, at least in a narrow, short-term view, comes at little cost. The Hall of Fame is the true prize for Rose’s supporters. And while Manfred sits on the Hall’s board, he can safely distance himself from whatever decision the Hall makes on Rose’s fate. As the commissioner wrote in his letter to Lenkov, “I want to emphasize that it is not part of my authority or responsibility to express any view concerning Mr. Rose’s consideration by or possible election to the Hall of Fame.”

The writers’ association never got the chance to vote on Rose. Under a rule adopted by the Hall’s board in 1991 — 1 1/2 years after Rose agreed to his ban, and the same year he would have been on the writers’ ballot for the first time — a player on the ineligible list cannot be considered for election to the Hall. Rose’s removal from that list changes nothing for the writers; his eligibility for our ballot has expired.

Now that Rose is reinstated, the way for him to gain induction is by passing muster with two Hall committees. The first is a BBWAA-appointed and board-approved Historical Overview Committee, a group that conducts an initial screening process and seemingly would rubber-stamp Rose’s candidacy to allow him a full hearing. The second is a 16-member era committee made up of Hall of Famers, executives and veteran media members.

The era committees work on three-year rotations. Without directly referring to Rose and Jackson, the Hall’s chair, Jane Forbes Clark, said in a statement that players removed from the permanently ineligible list would be classified in the Classic Baseball Era, which covers players who made their greatest impact before 1980. Thus, Rose and Jackson will be eligible for election in the winter of 2027, as part of the class of 2028.

Each of the eight candidates on an era committee ballot must receive 75% approval. Rose, then, would need 12 voters willing to overlook his past indiscretions, including his alleged sexual relationship with a girl under 16 in the 1970s (which he has denied, acknowledging the relationship but saying she was 16 at the time); his five-month prison sentence for tax evasion in 1990; and, of course, his betting on baseball.

The committee presumably would weigh not just Rose’s 4,256 hits but also the implications of electing him, the message it would send, the precedent it would set. Manfred’s decision on Rose, Jackson and other members of the 1919 Black Sox might have almost immediate ramifications. The possibility of a current player betting on baseball is hardly far-fetched.

It is not all that difficult to imagine Trump calling out individual committee members, whose identities are revealed a few days before the committee meets. The president has said he would pardon Rose. But the tax evasion conviction is the only one of Rose’s issues Trump could forgive. And that is not what kept Rose out of Cooperstown, where Trump clearly feels he belongs.

Commenting on his social media platform, Truth Social, after Rose’s death, Trump described Rose, a 17-time All-Star, as “one of the most magnificent players ever to play the game.” The president added: “He paid the price! Major League Baseball should have allowed him into the Hall of Fame many years ago.”

If he were elected, Rose’s contributions to the game would finally be recognized. His family and friends would celebrate an honor they consider long overdue. And the Hall, it can be argued, would become more complete.

Our society frequently is willing to forgive misconduct by famous figures. Prominent politicians, sports and entertainment figures routinely are afforded second acts. Rose for years argued he deserved the same.

Does he now?

The issues with Rose’s candidacy are not directly analogous to the issues with other problematic candidates for the Hall. But the induction of Rose would run contrary to certain standards the majority of Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters followed in recent elections. Again, this is not a baseball writers’ choice. Era committees exist to correct perceived BBWAA oversights. But how far will a committee be willing to extend for Rose?

Baseball writers who vote for the Hall have drawn a line on many candidates who were suspected or confirmed users of performance-enhancing drugs. Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, two candidates who, like Rose, violated known rules, have fared even worse than players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who mostly played in the pretesting era and never tested positive. The statistics of each of those players are worthy of the Hall of Fame.

A player whose career was more borderline, Omar Vizquel, saw his candidacy fade after The Athletic reported in 2020 that his ex-wife, Blanca, accused him of abuse and a bat boy with autism accused him of harassment. Vizquel denied abusing his ex-wife and reached a confidential settlement with the bat boy. He has only two years of BBWAA eligibility remaining.

As Manfred’s reversal on Rose shows, standards are not immutable, particularly under a president trying to impose his will. Trump did not rise to the defense of Bonds and Clemens. He rose to the defense of Rose. It’s a whole new ballgame.