Pete Rose has officially been taken off MLB’s permanently ineligible list, the league announced Tuesday. Baseball’s all-time hits leader was banned in 1989 after an investigation revealed that the longtime Cincinnati Reds star had placed bets while playing for and managing the team.
The decision makes Rose, who died at 83 last September, eligible to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement that permanent ineligibility “ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual.”
“To establish clarity for the administration of the Major League Rules, the decision in this matter shall apply to individuals in the past or future who are posthumously on the permanently ineligible list.”
There are 17 deceased individuals impacted by today’s announcement. Eight of those were part of the Black Sox scandal, including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.
The Baseball Hall of Fame issued a statement Tuesday.
“The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration. Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered.
“The Historical Overview Committee will develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee — which evaluates candidates who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1980 — to vote on when it meets next in December 2027.”
In April, Manfred said he had met with President Donald Trump to discuss topics including how immigration policies could affect international players. Rose also was a point of discussion.
“I met with President Trump two weeks ago … and one of the topics was Pete Rose, but I’m not going beyond that,” Manfred said at the time. “He’s said what he said publicly. I’m not going beyond that in terms of what the back and forth was.”
Trump said on Truth Social in March that he planned on “signing a complete pardon of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on his team winning.
“He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history.”
After denying he bet on baseball for more than a decade, Rose finally admitted it in an interview with ABC in 2007.
“I bet on baseball in 1987 and 1988,” he said. “That was my mistake, not coming clean a lot earlier.”
In his 2004 book “My Prison Without Bars,” Rose added that he bet on his own team.
“My actions, which I thought were benign, call the integrity of the game into question,’’ Rose said. “And there’s no excuse for that, but there’s also no reason to punish me forever.’’
Rose played from 1963 to 1986 primarily with the Reds but also the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos. A 17-time MLB All-Star and three-time World Series champion, he has the most hits (4,256), most games (3,562) and most at-bats (14,053) in league history.
