MLB commissioner Rob Manfred quashes possibility of Pete Rose's reinstatement in spite of league’s current cozy relationship with gambling
Pete Rose won't be reinstated by MLB anytime soon if league commissioner Rob Manfred has anything to do about it.
In spite of MLB's cozy relationship with gambling these days, with countless fans betting on players and games through the league's official partner DraftKings, Manfred said what Rose did is still wrong and is being justly punished.
Rob Manfred says that #MLB's relationship with gambling has no effect on Pete Rose's suspension.
"Pete Rose violated what is Rule 1 in baseball, the conseuqences of that are in the rule. We continue to abide by our own rules.''
Manfred told a meeting of the Baseball Writers of America on Tuesday:
"Pete Rose violated what is sort of Rule 1 in baseball, and the consequences of that are clear in the rule, and we've continued to abide by our own rules. It's just the rules are different for players. It's part of the responsibility that comes with the privilege of being a major league player."
Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from MLB after he was found to have bet on the Cincinnati Reds from 1985-87 while playing and managing the team. Rose applied for reinstatement in 1997 and 2015, but was rejected on both occasions.
Manfred said that because MLB receives revenue from gambling companies, it does not change what Rose did.
"We've always approached the issue of gambling from the proposition that players and other people who are in a position to influence the outcome of the game are going to be subject to a different set of rules than everyone else in the world."
In 1991, the Baseball Hall of Fame ruled that players who appear on MLB's permanently ineligible list — like Pete Rose — may not appear on the HOF ballot. Rose has asked that rule to be changed, but to no avail.
Pete Rose still MLB's all-time hit leader
Rose, still beloved in Cincinnati, still reigns as MLB's all-time hit leader with 4,256. He is also the MLB all-time leader in games played (3,562), plate appearances (15,890) and at-bats (15,890).
Most recognizable as a member of the Reds, Rose played for 24 major league seasons with Cincinnati, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Montreal Expos.
He is a 17-time All-Star, won two Gold Gloves and three batting titles. The 1963 National League Rookie of the Year and 1973 NL Most Valuable Player also won three World Series titles, two with the Reds and one with the Phillies.