Don Van Natta Jr.
Commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday defended his recent decision to reinstate Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and other deceased banned players as “baseball living up to the deal they originally made with Pete Rose.”
While acknowledging his decision was “overdue,” Manfred offered his most fulsome explanation for his May 13 decision to remove Rose, Jackson and other deceased players from MLB’s permanently ineligible list. That decision has paved the way for Rose and Jackson to be considered for induction into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
“I would say three things,” Manfred said during an interview on “CBS Mornings.” “No. 1: Our permanently ineligible list is effectively a ban on working in the game. This is a matter of logic. There’s no reason to have a person who has passed away still on that list. No. 2: Pete Rose is a part of the history of our game. Every other player, including ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, has been considered by the Hall of Fame and they’ve made a decision. I saw no reason to leave Pete Rose out there as one of one, no consideration.”
Manfred discussed the particulars of Rose’s punishment that the all-time hit king accepted in “a settlement” with then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in August 1989.
“And then, last, I think what people don’t realize is Pete Rose wasn’t disciplined by commissioner Giamatti,” Manfred said. “He entered a settlement agreement with the league. At the time they entered into that settlement, he went on the permanently ineligible list knowing that the rules allowed the Hall of Fame to consider him. Commissioner Giamatti went out, had a press conference the day of the settlement and he was asked about the Hall of Fame and he said this settlement should have nothing to do with the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame should consider Pete Rose under its existing rules. So I see the decision as baseball living up to the deal that they originally made with Pete Rose.”
In 1991, the Hall of Fame enacted a rule that any player on a banned list would be ineligible for the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose’s name has never appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot.
Manfred was also asked whether his decision, which came seven months after Rose’s death at age 83, was “difficult.”
“Yeah, it’s a difficult decision because people are passionate about issues like this,” Manfred said. “When you come up the side of the business that I came up, living up to your agreements is a really important thing and this was overdue, in my opinion.”
After Manfred’s decision, Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board of the Hall of Fame, said Rose, Jackson and others will be considered by the Historical Overview Committee, which will “develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee … to vote on when it next meets in December 2027.”
Rose and Jackson would need 12 of 16 votes to earn induction into the Hall of Fame.
