Spinless Manfred May Finally Do What He Should Have Done When Rose Was Alive

Pete Rose was a baseball player unlike any other—a man whose grit, passion, and relentless work ethic turned him into the greatest hitter the game has ever seen. The numbers don’t lie: 4,256 hits, an MVP award, three batting titles, and three World Series championships. He was the heart and soul of the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine, a dynasty that dominated the 1970s. Rose played with an intensity that set him apart, diving headfirst into bases, refusing to take a play off, and inspiring a generation of baseball fans, myself included.

I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and like so many others, I fell in love with Pete Rose and the way he played the game. He wasn’t just another player; he was the embodiment of everything baseball was supposed to be—gritty, relentless, passionate. It wasn’t until I moved to New Jersey in 1978 and witnessed Ron Guidry’s 18-strikeout masterpiece that I found my team in the Yankees, but my admiration for Rose never wavered. He was still the player I idolized, the player who made me believe in baseball.

And yet, despite everything he gave to the game, despite all the records he shattered, Major League Baseball turned its back on him.

Let’s be clear—Pete Rose made mistakes. He gambled on baseball, a violation of one of the sport’s cardinal rules. But he never did anything to diminish his effort or his performance on the field. And for that, he was banished from the sport he helped define, denied the one honor he undoubtedly deserved—a place in the Hall of Fame.

For years, he sought redemption. He acknowledged his wrongdoing. He served his time. He waited for baseball to come to its senses. But Rob Manfred, the commissioner who has done more to damage Major League Baseball than any man before him, refused to reinstate Rose while he was alive. Manfred, in all his cowardice, dodged the responsibility, claiming he would “mull it over” but never actually doing a damn thing. It wasn’t until the President of the United States suggested pardoning Rose that articles even started to circulate about Manfred reconsidering. And now, Pete Rose is gone. Dead. Probably of a broken heart, after being cast aside by the very game he gave everything to.

And now, after years of ignoring Rose, Manfred is supposedly considering lifting his ban posthumously. What a gutless, empty gesture. It would have meant something if they had done it when he was alive, when he could have maybe one day stood on that stage in Cooperstown and received the honor he fought for his entire life. But now? Now it’s just another example of baseball’s spineless leadership under Manfred.  But here’s the worst part of reinstating Rose. Even if he is reinstated by Manfred, the baseball writers, who let guys in like Harold Baines before they’d ever let in Alex Rodriguez would cockblock Rose for as long as they were alive.  In other words, while perhaps we are moving in the right direction, there are too many stop gaps to continue to prevent Rose to head to his natural destination… Cooperstown.  It’s a wicked web and all those a-holes are in on it.

Look at the facts: Pete Rose is the all-time hits leader. He played harder than anyone before or after him. He made baseball better. And yet, there are idiots like Patrick Sauer of the Washington Post trying to rewrite history, suggesting that Ichiro Suzuki is the real hit king. No disrespect to Ichiro—his accomplishments in Japan and the MLB are remarkable—but Pete Rose’s record stands above all in the MAJOR LEAGUES. It’s 4,256. That’s the number. That’s the legacy. That’s what matters.

Was he a perfect man? No. But neither were countless other Hall of Famers. The Hall isn’t about moral perfection; it’s about baseball greatness. And Pete Rose was greatness incarnate.

MLB had a chance to do the right thing. They failed. And now, they’re trying to make up for it after the fact. Too little, too late. But for those of us who grew up watching him, who saw the passion, the determination, the sheer love of the game—Pete Rose will always be a Hall of Famer, no matter what some spineless commissioner says.