For any Major League Baseball fan who wants to see the all-time MLB hits leader finally inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, it doesn’t look like it will ever happen. Pete Rose, who has been banned from baseball for life for gambling on the sport while managing the Cincinnati Reds just lost another appeal that would allow him to enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The Hall has rules that prevent anyone banned from baseball from induction regardless of merit.
The statement from Baseball Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame board of directors released a statement that said that they voted to ratify the resolution that banned all individuals that were deemed permanently ineligible for MLB from induction into their establishment.
This includes MLB all-time hits leader Pete Rose. The original resolution was passed on Feb. 4, 1991, and remains in effect with the latest vote.
The incident that took place happened back in 1989 when Pete Rose was caught betting on baseball games while managing the Cincinnati Reds. He signed an agreement with Major League Baseball and accepted the lifetime ban. In 1997, Rose sought reinstatement from new commissioner Bud Selig but the commissioner never acted on the request. Rose again sought reinstatement in 2015 with Rob Manfred, who denied the request.
According to Rob Manfred, he has no authority to reinstate Pete Rose. He said that this was beyond allowing someone to work in baseball and the idea of the Baseball Hall of Fame needs to take place in another forum.
According to the Hall, they won’t do anything to change the decision since the Major League Baseball won’t.
Pete Rose’s accomplishments
Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson are the two most obvious omissions from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Shoeless Joe was part of the Black Sox scandal when the team was caught throwing the World Series.
Out of all the players involved, Jackson was playing great in the World Series and was seemingly not involved in the act of throwing the game but was banned from baseball for life for being part of the team.
Pete Rose, on the other hand, was caught betting on baseball games and that caused his ban from the sport. However, much like Shoeless Joe, Rose accomplished enough as a player to warrant his inclusion into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rose was a 17-time All-Star and is the baseball all-time hit leader with 4,256 hits, more than Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron, and Stan Musial.
Pete Rose ranks second all-time in doubles (746), 14th all-time in walks (746), sixth all-time in runs scored (2,165)
