Major League Baseball has reinstated Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and several other players who were previously on the league’s permanently ineligible list on Tuesday.

The decision clears the way for Rose, who died in September, to possibly make the Hall of Fame. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred ruled that the punishment of banned individuals ends upon their death.

“A person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred said in an official statement. “Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.”

Both Rose and Jackson were placed on the league’s permanently ineligible list due to their connections with gambling.

Rose was betting on games while the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, including games involving the Reds. Jackson was a member of the 1919 Chicago White Sox team accused of losing the 1919 World Series on purpose.

Jackson denied ever gambling on the World Series.

President Donald Trump has been a strong advocate for Rose to be reinstated into baseball. Earlier this year, Trump said he would sign a complete pardon for Rose.

Manfred said he had spoken to Trump about Rose’s status.

The full list of players who were removed Tuesday from the permanently ineligible list also includes Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, Lefty Williams, Joe Gedeon, Gene Paulette, Benny Kauff, Lee Magee, Phil Douglas, Cozy Dolan, Jimmy O’Connell and William Cox.

Both Rose and Jackson are considered all-time greats. With this decision, it’s likely they both qualify for the Hall of Fame.

As the debate over Pete Rose’s potential induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame gains momentum, a new documentary directed by Mark Monroe, Charlie Hustle And The Matter Of Pete Rose, offers a balanced perspective on the controversial figure.

In a recent interview with uInterview founder Erik Meers, Monroe clarified his intentions behind the film. “Well, I didn’t make a film to promote one side or the other. And if you took that, I am sorry, and that was not the intention certainly to defend Pete or to create any kind of propaganda to get him back to the Hall of Fame,” Monroe said.

Rather than advocating for or against Rose’s induction, the documentary continuously encourages viewers to reassess their opinions.

“I feel that is the fun aspect of the story; you are constantly checking your own opinion about what you think should happen to Pete,” he said. “You come into this film as a Pete loyalist thinking he deserves to be in the hall, and you may come out the other side even more firm in your beliefs.”

For those who oppose Rose’s place in Cooperstown due to his gambling history, Monroe’s film provides a platform to challenge and possibly reinforce their stance.

“You can come into this film thinking, ‘there’s no way we should ever let a gambler into the Hall of Fame,’ and you can come out the other side feeling like you have the right side of the argument,” Monroe said.

The documentary does not aim to resolve the controversy but to present it in a manner that respects the issue’s complexities. “I try very hard to do that; I think that’s where the fun lies in the storytelling,” Monroe said.

The Charlie Hustle is now available to stream on Max. 

Former MLB star Pete Rose repeatedly dismissed reporters’ questions regarding a case of statutory rape at a press event at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Sunday. Before a ceremony celebrating the 1980 Phillies’ World Series victory, his first appearance on the field since the case became public, Rose repeatedly declined to address the issue and made demeaning remarks to Alex Coffey, a female reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Following a defamation lawsuit filed in 2016 by Rose against attorney John M. Dowd, court documents released in 2017 included testimony and a signed statement establishing that Rose engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s. At the time, the Phillies were planning to honor Rose by putting him on their Wall of Fame but scrapped those plans following the development.

Many of Rose’s comments on Sunday about the case have since been criticized, but the honoree’s response to Coffey has received the most attention. The reporter asked Rose if his presence at the ceremony sent “a negative message to women” due to the allegations.

“No, I’m not here to talk about that,” Rose said. “Sorry about that. It was 55 years ago, babe.”

After the ceremony, Rose met again with Coffey, asking if he had offended her and joking that he would “sign 1,000 baseballs” for her forgiveness. He eventually apologized, but Rose’s comments toward Coffey were merely part of a larger effort by the former Cincinnati Reds and Phillies star to dismiss allegations of rape.

“Who cares what happened 50 years ago?” Rose said to an Associated Press reporter. “You weren’t even born. So you shouldn’t be talking about it, because you weren’t born. If you don’t know a damn thing about it, don’t talk about it.”

Rose is obviously familiar with controversy, as his illegal gambling habits as the Reds’ manager from 1985 to 1987 famously led to his lifetime ban from baseball and the Hall of Fame in 1991. Rose has spent his life since on the outskirts of MLB culture, making most of his money through book deals and autograph events, one of which notoriously occurs annually in Cooperstown, New York, on induction weekend.

When Rose walked on to the field at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. In 24 seasons from 1963 to 1986, Rose earned 4,256 hits, the most by any player. He appeared in the All Star Game 17 times and won three World Series, two with the Reds as part of “the Big Red Machine” and one in Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, broadcaster and former Major League catcher Ray Fosse died at 74 after battling cancer for the past 16 years.

Fosse was a mainstay in broadcasting for the past 35 years and was highly regarded in the baseball and Oakland A’s communities – he worked for the franchise since 1986. However, he won the hearts of A’s fans well before his time as a commentator. He was on the A’s 1973 and 1974 World Series Championship teams after his time with the Cleveland Indians. He sported All-Star honors and championship rings during his 12-year career as a catcher.

Fosse was a great player but really wrote his page in MLB’s history book after a famous collision in the 1970’s All-Star Game. Pete Rose was running full speed into home plate and Fosse stood his ground with the ball in an attempt to tag him out. Rose ended up lowering his shoulder and leveling Fosse with a football-inspired hit. The ball flew out of the catcher’s glove and Rose scored. The injuries to Fosse’s shoulder plagued the remainder of his career.

The A’s showed their support and gratitude for Fosse’s many years of service with a heartfelt statement on their website. He leaves behind his wife, Carol, two daughters and four grandchildren.

Pete Rose is Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader with 4,256 career hits. Some of those hits though may have come by way of cheating as a former Montreal Expos groundskeeper, a team where Rose played 95 games back in 1984, accused Rose of corking his bats while he played for the organization.

Joe Jammer has accused Rose of corking his bats. “Pete Rose would have his bats corked in the visitors’ clubhouse at Olympic Stadium,” Jammer told the Montreal Gazette. “Pete was too smart to deal with Expos equipment manager John Silverman (to cork his bats in the Expos’ clubhouse). So Bryan Greenberg, who worked in the visitors’ clubhouse, did it.”

According to Major League Baseball’s official rule book, using a corked bat is illegal as it is perceived to give hitters an unfair advantage by being able to hit the ball further than that of regular bats because corked bats are significantly lighter than regular bats.

During his time in Montreal, Rose played in just 95 games, had a batting average of .259, and 72 hits. For his career, Rose is Major League Baseball’s career hits leader with 4,256 hits and also had a career batting average of .303.

Rose was banned from baseball back in 1989 for betting on baseball games, some of which were games he played and managed in, which is why he has not been enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rose has tried to apply for reinstatement multiple times since being banned but has yet to be readmitted. He most recently applied for reinstatement back in January of this year following the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

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Amidst allegations of sign-stealing, Pete Rose, former MLB player and manager of the Cincinnati Reds, has sent a petition to the MLB commissioner’s office arguing for an end to his 30 and a half-year ban. This came as a result of him gambling on baseball games while he was manager.

In 1989, Rose was permanently banned from baseball by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti. An investigation by John Dowd, the special counsel to the MLB, showed that Rose had illegally wagered with bookmakers on MLB games, including his own Reds.

For years, Rose had denied that he had bet on baseball, but in his book, “My Prison Without Bars,” he admits to wagering on games.

Rose and his lawyers have argued that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has recently opted to not punish players found guilty of major game-changing rules infractions and say that Rose’s ban is “vastly disproportionate” to punishments for players accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs, and now, the sign stealing schemes by the 2017 Houston Astros.

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“There cannot be one set of rules for Mr. Rose and another for everyone else,” the petition states. “No objective standard or categorization of the rules violations committed by Mr. Rose can distinguish his violations from those that have incurred substantially less severe penalties from Major League Baseball.”

Examples of his argument are seen with the Astros, where manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Lehnow were suspended for one year and the team was fined $5 million, as well as the reinstatement of Jenrry Mejia, who was permanently banned from baseball after testing positive for anabolic steroids the third time.

“It’s in the best interest of baseball to not have as its legacy that Pete Rose is being treated grossly differently than every other player in its history, with the exception of ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson and the Chicago Black Sox,” Rose’s lawyer Mark Rosenbaum said. “I don’t think there has been an athlete in any sport in history who has fallen more steeply and more of a distance for a longer period of time than Pete Rose has.”

The petition was also filed with the Hall of Fame seeking for the ban to end so Rose could be considered for induction.

Time will tell if the all-time hits leader will have his ban removed and if the MLB with stay consistent with punishments dealt out for all violations.

While he’s still banned from Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, Pete Rose will be inducted into a Hall of Fame. The Cincinnati Reds will induct the all-time hit leader into their franchise’s hall this season.

“Inducting Pete into the Reds Hall of Fame will be a defining moment in the 147-year history of this storied franchise,” Reds CEO Bob Castellini said in a statement. “He is one of the greatest players to ever wear a Reds uniform and it will be an unforgettable experience watching him being honored as such.”

Rose spent two stints as a Reds player, during which he was a member of the ‘Big Red Machine’ that won two World Series titles. He also managed the club in the late 1980s.

Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on games, including those that he played in and managed. He denied gambling on baseball until 2004, when he admitted that he did. Rose recently applied for reinstatement, but his appeal was denied by commissioner Rob Manfred.

Major League Baseball did allow Rose to appear at the All-Star Game this past summer in Cincinnati, however, where he was honored as one of the Reds’ greatest players.

Photo: Pete Rose during his time playing for the Cincinnati Reds

ESPN’s Outside the Lines reports that they have received new evidence that suggest Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest players, bet on baseball during his time as a player for the Cincinnati Reds. Although Rose admitted to betting as a manager, which got him banned by Major League Baseball in 1989, he has been adamant about not placing any bets as a player. Rose recently has been applying for reinstatement to new commissioner Rob Manfred and has been a part of MLB on Fox’s studio coverage this season.

The new evidence comes from notebooks that were evidence in a raid of New York bookie and former Rose associate Michael Bertolini. The National Archives have held onto the notebooks for 26 years without publicly releasing them. In them, the pages suggest that Rose regularly bet on baseball, including on his own Reds, in his final season of 1986. In fact, each of the 21 legible entries that mention Rose show that he bet on the Reds each time he placed a bet.

The news comes as a big blow towards Rose’s attempts at reinstatement. Proponents of dropping the ban on Rose and making him eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame point to the fact he had only bet on baseball as a manager and not as a player, which should make his playing days worthy of entering the hall. Other factors like the steroid era, the steadfast opinion of Bud Selig, and the question of whether or not the bets played any role in the Reds’ performance were also thrown around.

But with evidence suggesting that Rose bet on baseball as a player, the possibility that Rose will never be reinstated now grows to a new high. It’s also no doubt that Commissioner Manfield will have a different approach towards considering Rose’s status. Rose’s appearance at the 2015 MLB All-Star Game in Cincinnati is also in doubt with today’s news.

Pete Rose played 26 years in the majors between the Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and Montreal Expos. He still holds the record for most career hits with 4,256 as well as the number of games played at 3,562. He has been banned from Major League Baseball since the 1989 Dowd Report was released.