Rose repeatedly denied betting on baseball until in his 2004 autobiography, “Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars”.
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And, lastly (although there never really is a “lastly” with Pete), he insisted he’d bet only as a manager, never as a player, as though this were a wide enough line to get him reinstated.
Major League Baseball said Rose, 74, was informed of Manfred’s decision verbally and in writing that his application has been denied.
He noted that Rose has said he continues to gamble recreationally and legally on horses and sports, including baseball, even as he asserted through his lawyers that he leads a reconfigured life.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Monday he would not lift the ban on Pete Rose, meaning the legendary hitter also will not be eligible for the Hall of Fame, according to current rules. “Here, what has been presented to me for consideration falls well short of these requirements”.
The decision upheld the original ban that prevents Rose from associating or working with any major- or minor-league team. Rose appealed again to Selig when he took office in 1998 but to no avail despite multiple instances where it appeared as though Selig was coming around to the idea of reinstatement.
GOLDMAN: Rose also has been banned from baseball’s Hall of Fame.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America votes against allowing anyone on the sport’s permanently ineligible list from being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Rob Manfred did make it clear that, despite the denial of reinstatement, it should not affect his contention for the Hall. By any interpretation, however, that is a stretch.
One interesting distinction Manfred did raise, however, was the Hall of Fame, which he made a point of mentioning in a weighty paragraph that came off like a verbal grenade lobbed in the direction of Cooperstown.
Baseball needed to see more from Rose than just staying away from illegal bookies. Heck, I can even say that another rhetoric is that Rose won money from betting on his team.
The decision comes at a time where Rose has been more visible than ever on the outskirts of the game. It sounds preposterous. Making the decision to cross to the verboten side of the game, and risking the penalties that would bring to bear, seems like such a monumental moment.
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Rose was banned in 1989 after it was found that he bet on baseball games while managing the Cincinnati Reds. The materials also included a copy of a notebook that apparently shows records of bets placed in 1986 by a man named Michael Bertolini, who allegedly placed bets on behalf of Rose.
