The Cincinnati Reds announced a bylaw change Tuesday to finally induct their hometown hero into the Reds Hall of Fame in June, despite the permanent ban that has kept him out of the national hall of fame.
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Rose was selected as the lone inductee for the class of 2016 by the Reds Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
Rose, 74, has been ineligible for Cooperstown, the upstate NY town where the Hall of Fame is based, since being banned for life from the professional sport in 1989 for gambling on games while playing for and managing the Reds. Manfred says baseball’s career hits leader continued to gamble.
“I don’t know if I’m going to live to see it”, Rose said.
Evidence gathered by investigator John Dowd showed that Rose bet on the Reds; an offense punishable by lifetime ban.
Castellini said there are plans, although the timetable is uncertain, of adding a Rose statue to those of all-time Reds greats outside Great American Ball Park. Not only is Rose, a Cincinnati native, not in the Reds Hall of Fame, his No. 14 is not officially retired.
Bob Castellini, Reds’ President and CEO, Pete Rose and Rick Walls, Executive Director of the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum, will make remarks.
“It is not at all clear to me that Mr. Rose has a grasp of the scope of his violations”, Manfred said in his decision.
“It would be nice to have the opportunity to go to the Hall of Fame”, Rose said in December. Rose will be the last inductee from the regular starting eight of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, David Concepcion, George Foster, Cesar Geronimo and Ken Griffey Sr.
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The Reds will host the San Diego Padres during Rose’s induction weekend. A three-time NL batting champion, he had 4,256 hits from 1963-86, topping the mark of 4,191 set by Ty Cobb from 1905-28.
