Commissioner mantains Pete Rose’s ban, but says he could be considered for

Pete Rose is disappointed in Rob Manfred’s decision to uphold his lifetime ban from Major League Baseball but acknowledged that he put the new commissioner “in a tough spot to make a judgment on my situation”.

Charlie Hustle’s hustling worked wonders on the baseball field, but his hustling off the field wound up terminating his desperate quest for reinstatement by MLB, as Commissioner Rob Manfred denied Pete Rose’s petition for reinstatement on Monday.

Rose agreed to the ban in August 1989 after an investigation for Major League Baseball by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.

In a September meeting, Rose admitted betting on baseball in 1987 but said he couldn’t remember many facts outlined in the league’s original findings – called the Dowd Report – that showed evidence of his betting as a player in the two previous seasons, according to Manfred.

That disclosure clearly concerned Manfred, as did what he described as Rose’s inability, at the meeting, to admit that he not only bet on games as a manager but also as a player.

In the statement, Manfred says that Rose ‘has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life.’ Manfred says Rose hasn’t honestly accepted wrongdoing. Nothing short of a full confession, a complete understanding of his transgressions and a complete “reconfiguration” of his life would get Rose back in the game’s good graces.

Rose, Manfred wrote, had not taken seriously the plea of the late commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti that he reconfigure his life before his reinstatement was considered.

The common saying among those who want Rose to be reinstated is that he has been suspended for over 20 years, and he has learned his lesson. We know this because Manfred cited his continued betting as the primary reason to keep Rose out of the game.

The Times reported Manfred was intending to tell Rose on Thursday but did so on Monday after an inquiry by the newspaper. I’m trying to stay in baseball.

Pete Rose loves the game of baseball so much that he has a message for MLB.

“Thus, any debate over Mr. Rose’s eligibility for the Hall of Fame is one that must take place in a different forum”, Manfred wrote.

He will never be in the Hall of Fame, certainly, not while Rose still is alive.

In an interview this month with a television station in Cincinnati, Rose addressed the looming decision.

When I asked Rose this summer if he still bet, he said, “I’ll bet….”

Regardless of the intention, Reds long time scout and Wheelersburg native Gene Bennett realizes Rose most likely will never be allowed in the Hall of Fame with this decision.

Rose first applied for reinstatement in 1997 and met with then-commissioner Bud Selig in 2002. It would be a fair compromise to induct him into Cooperstown while maintaining his distance from the game, but that’s not how the ban works. Manfred says allowing him back in the game would present an unacceptable risk of a future violation. The 74-year-old Rose is the all-time career hits leader, a record baseball experts consider untouchable.