CINCINNATI, March 16 (UPI) -- Major League Baseball's "Hit King" is trying his case for a new jury. Rob Manfred, who became MLB Commissioner in January, said that he received Pete Rose's request for reinstatement on Monday.
"I want to make sure I understand all of the details of the Dowd Report and Commissioner [Bart] Giamatti's decision and the agreement that was ultimately reached," Manfred told ESPN after a meeting with Los Angeles Dodgers players in Arizona on Monday morning. "I want to hear what Pete has to say, and I'll make a decision once I've done that."
Rose, 73, received a permanent ban from baseball three years after his final season in 1986. Rose agreed to the ban after accusations surfaced of gambling on games while playing and managing for the Cincinnati Reds. Neither commissioner Fay Vincent or Bud Selig allowed Rose and his 4,256 hits into the Hall of Fame. Access to the Hall of Fame would require reinstatement.
"Honestly, I don't think people should read any disposition into what I'm saying about this," Manfred told ESPN. "I see it as a really simple thing. He's made a request. Part of my obligations under the major league constitution is to deal with those requests, and I'll deal with it."
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Rose holds MLB records for hits, games played, at-bats, singles, total bases for a switch hitter, most seasons with 200 or more hits, most seasons with 600 or more at-bats, most seasons with 150 or more games played, most games won, most games with five or more hits, most times with a 20 game or more hitting streak and most total times on base. Rose is also the only player in baseball history to play 500 games at five positions.
"Charlie Hustle" hit .303 in 24 seasons with the Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and Montreal Expos. Rose averaged 194 hits per season. The 1973 National League MVP had 35 hits in 34 World Series games and is a three-time World Series Champion.
Rose was a 17-time All-Star, three-time batting champion, and the 1975 World Series MVP.
"The Pete Rose case is not about Pete Rose, so the issue of 'has he served his time, does he deserve mercy?' is in my book irrelevant," Vincent told Newsday in February. "This issue has always been the deterrent in baseball against gambling [and] is almost perfectly successful. It never happens, and the reason it doesn't happen is if you touch that third rail, you're out of baseball for life whether you're a Hall of Famer or not, and nobody's ever been reinstated.
"For a commissioner to change that deterrent -- without an awful lot of very careful examination -- would be a bad mistake," Vincent said. "I don't believe Rob Manfred is up to that kind of mistake. I don't think he's going to do it, either."
Rose's public exposure has increased recently as he took part in the All-Century Team ceremony in 1999 and will participate in All-Star Game events this season in Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. After applying for reinstatement in 1992 and 1999, this is Rose's third swing. Selig never ruled on Rose's application.
"I've been led to believe America is a forgiving country, and if you do the right things – keep your nose clean, be a good citizen, pay your taxes, do all the things you're supposed to do – eventually you'll get a second chance," Rose told Outside the Lines last August.
"I wish some way in your heart you'd find an opportunity to give me a chance, a second chance, because if you don't, I'm still going to sell baseball like no one else you have working in the game," Rose told ESPN.
Rose's reinstatement could mean completing the Big Red Machine's diamond of Hall of Fame players. Currently catcher Johnny Bench, first baseman Tony Perez, and second baseman Joe Morgan sit in baseball's hallowed halls.
