Decision on ineligibility status after death impacts Rose, others
Major League Baseball removed Pete Rose and 16 other deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list on Tuesday, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced.
Manfred’s decision comes in the wake of Rose’s death last Sept. 30 at the age of 83 and in response to a petition from Rose’s family.
In reinstating Rose, Manfred also reinstated the following individuals who have passed away while on the permanently ineligible list, including: Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Joe Jackson, 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.
Rose had voluntarily accepted a permanent place on baseball’s ineligible list on Aug. 24, 1989, after then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti reviewed a report by lawyer John M. Dowd documenting Rose’s betting on MLB games -- a violation of MLB’s Rule 21 -- in 1987, when he was serving as manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
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Rose was the first person banned after the tenure of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis (MLB’s first Commissioner) to die while still on the ineligible list. Last December, the Commissioner met with Rose's daughter Fawn Rose and the family’s attorney, Jeffrey M. Lenkov, at their request. They were seeking to find out if the permanently ineligible list extended beyond death, which led to Tuesday’s announcement.
“In my view,” Manfred wrote in a letter to Lenkov, “once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served. Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.”
Rose, who is the all-time leader in hits with 4,256, spent the bulk of his career with the Reds, who are set to honor him in a ceremony on Wednesday night.
"On behalf of the Reds and our generations of loyal fans, we are thankful for the decision of Commissioner Manfred and Major League Baseball regarding the removal of Pete Rose from the permanently ineligible list,” Reds principal owner Bob Castellini said in a statement. "Pete is one of the greatest players in baseball history, and Reds Country will continue to celebrate him as we always have.
"We are especially happy for the Rose family to receive this news and what this decision could mean for them and all of Pete’s fans."
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Commissioner Emeritus Allan H. (Bud) Selig released the following statement: “I understand and respect Commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision regarding the removal of Pete Rose and 16 other deceased individuals from the ineligible list. Given my affection for my friend, the late Bart Giamatti, MLB’s seventh Commissioner who disciplined Mr. Rose for gambling on his own team all those years ago, I believe Bart would understand and respect the decision as well.”
The removal of Rose from the permanently ineligible list, as well as the so-called “Eight Men Out,” is a major update to the two most noteworthy gambling scandals in MLB history. Cicotte, Williams, Gandil, McMullin, Risberg, Felsch, Jackson and Weaver were all members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox and were banned in 1921 for conspiring with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series.
But in the cases of Rose and Jackson, in particular, it is important to note that coming off the permanently ineligible list does not include automatic admission into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which is a separate entity from MLB. In 1991, which was set to be Rose’s first year on the ballot, the Hall of Fame’s board of directors adopted a rule that those on MLB’s permanently ineligible list could not be considered for election to the Hall. The Hall announced Tuesday that Rose and the other reinstated individuals are now eligible for consideration. They will have to go through a voting process to achieve induction.
“The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,” Hall of Fame chairman of the board Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement. “Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered. The Historical Overview Committee will develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee -- which evaluates candidates who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1980 -- to vote on when it meets next in December 2027.”
At the time Rose was banned by MLB, the Hall of Fame did not yet have a rule barring people on the permanently ineligible list from Hall of Fame consideration. In fact, Jackson’s case was voted upon in 1936 and 1946.
“I want to emphasize that it is not part of my authority or responsibility to express any view concerning Mr. Rose’s consideration by or possible election to the Hall of Fame,” Manfred wrote in his letter. “I agree with Commissioner Giamatti that responsibility for that decision lies with the Hall of Fame.”
MLB’s official statement on Manfred’s decision noted that “the decision in this matter shall apply to individuals in the past or future who are posthumously on the permanently ineligible list.”