Manfred reviewing petition for Rose Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering a petition to have Pete Rose posthumously removed from Major League Baseball’s ineligible list, according reports Saturday night. ESPN was the first to report on the reinstatement petition filed by Jeffrey Lenkov, a Southern California lawyer who represented Rose, above, prior to his death at age 83 in September. Lenkov attended a Dec. 17 meeting with Rose’s daughter, Fawn, Manfred and MLB executive Pat Courtney in the commissioner’s office. A 17-time All-Star, Rose is baseball’s career leader with 4,256 hits. He also holds the major league record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). He was the 1973 NL MVP and played on three World Series winners. An investigation for MLB found Rose placed numerous bets on the Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team. Rose agreed with MLB on a permanent ban in 1989. Lenkov told ESPN he’s seeking Rose’s removal from the banned list “so that we could seek induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.”
Pete Rose Story #1 I used to work with a big Reds fan, and by extension a Rose fan. For years, he vented about Rose having been unfairly maligned by MLB. I'd remind him that Rose had bet on MLB games, possibly the #1 baseball rule in regards to maintaining the integrity of the game. He'd then point out that Rose had always bet on the Reds to win. A point that he thought should have exempted him from the no betting rule. I'd then ask him if Rose had bet on the Reds to win every game they played. Knowing that the info released at the time by MLB said he hadn't. Which he acknowledged, though not knowing the significance. I told him it was significant because it would impact how Rose would likely manage Reds games. Games he didn't bet on, that were followed by a game he had bet on, where less important to him. Especially the use of relief pitching in the no bet game. He never understood my logic, or didn't want to understand it. Pete Rose Story #2 My brother is an attorney that lives in Tampa. A few months after Rose was banned by MLB, he was flying home from NYC and was seated next to a guy named John Dowd. The same John Dowd that had lead the independent Rose investigation for MLB. Dowd said that in exchange for accepting his ban from baseball, MLB would not go public with more details about his betting. That it was way worse than anyone had been lead to believe. In time, Rose reneged on his word, and went back to claiming he'd done nothing wrong. Great baseball player. But, not an honorable guy. The only way Pete Rose should have been allowed in the Baseball Hall of Fame was with a ticket.
The use of the bullpen being a way to negatively impact his own team is spot on. One thing that could be much more damning is if he owed organized crime a ton of money on bad bets and was in their pocket.
