On Monday MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made his decision to keep Pete Rose out of baseball. On Tuesday the MLB's all-time hits leader spoke to the media about how he hopes to be a positive figure in the sport rather than be viewed as an "outsider."
The 74-year-old showed he understood Manfred's decision to uphold his lifetime ban because the new commissioner was "in a tough spot to make a judgment," he said.This was the first time Rose's application for reinstatement was at all considered after former commissioners Bud Selig and Fay Vincent ignored his previous requests.
"I'm disappointed, obviously disappointed," Rose said. "But I will continue to be the best baseball fan in the world. ... I'm a baseball player. I'm a baseball person, and that's never gonna change."
Former commissioner Bart Giamatti banned Rose in 1989 after evidence was uncovered in the Dowd Report that he bet on baseball when he was managing the Cincinnati Reds in the 1980s. Under Manfred's watch, further evidence was procured earlier this year when investigators discovered Rose allegedly wagered on sports as a player too, which was likely a factor in Manfred's decision.
In his three-page decision, Manfred said that Rose failed to make considerable amends over the past 26 years.
"Mr. Rose has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing, so clearly established by the Dowd Report, or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of the circumstances that led to his permanent ineligibility in 1989. Absent such credible evidence, allowing him to work in the game presents an unacceptable risk of a future violation by him of Rule 21, and thus to the integrity of our sport."
Now, the question of his eligibility for induction into baseball's Hall of Fame is a completely different topic. Rose hopes to be enshrined one day and Manfred said Rose's eligibility is "one that must take place in a different forum." However, the National Baseball Hall of Fame didn't wait very long after Manfred's announcement to make their stance clear on Rose:
"Pete Rose remains ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration, based on the Hall of Fame's bylaws, which preclude any individual on baseball's ineligible list from being considered a candidate for election."
Nonetheless, Rose will likely remain one of the most beloved players of all-time. Although Manfred said Rose hadn't showed any understanding of his blatant disregard for the rules of baseball, Rose certainly expressed that today at the press conference.
"I'm not gonna sit here on Las Vegas Boulevard and complain about something because I'm the one that screwed up," Rose added. "I'm the one that made the mistake. I can only hope that I can prevent other people from making the kind of mistakes that I made in the game of baseball, especially young people."
"You win some, you lose some. You can't rewrite something that's already happened."
"I'm a good guy, to be honest with you."
