Commissioner weighs removing Rose from MLB ineligible list

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering a petition to have Pete Rose posthumously removed from Major League Baseball's ineligible list, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The person spoke to the AP on Saturday night on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the conversations.

ESPN was the first to report on the reinstatement petition filed by Jeffrey Lenkov, a Southern California lawyer who represented Rose prior to his death at age 83 in September.

Lenkov attended a Dec 17 meeting with Rose's daughter, Fawn, Manfred and MLB executive Pat Courtney in the commissioner's office. The petition was filed Jan 8.

A message was left by the AP on Saturday night seeking comment from Lenkov.

A 17-time All-Star, Rose is baseball's career leader with 4,256 hits. He also holds the major league record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). He was the 1973 National League MVP and played on three World Series winners.

An investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team. Rose agreed with MLB on a permanent ban in 1989.

Lenkov told ESPN he is seeking Rose's removal from the banned list "so that we could seek induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which had long been his desire and is now being sought posthumously by his family". He described Manfred as respectful, gracious and an active participant during their one-hour meeting in December.

Under a rule adopted by the Hall's board of directors in 1991, anyone on the permanently ineligible list cannot be considered for election to the Hall.

Rose applied for reinstatement in 1997 and met with commissioner Bud Selig in November 2002, but Selig never ruled on Rose's request. Manfred in 2015 denied Rose's application for reinstatement.

President Donald Trump posted on social media on Friday night that he plans to issue "a complete PARDON of Pete Rose". Trump posted on Truth Social that Rose "shouldn't have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING".

Trump did not specifically mention Rose's tax case in which Rose pleaded guilty in 1990 to two counts of filing false tax returns and served a five-month prison sentence.

The president said he would sign a pardon for Rose "over the next few weeks".

Agencies via Xinhua