Often, when a prominent figure in baseball dies, commissioner Rob Manfred and Tony Clark, the head of the players’ union, will quickly issue formal statements commenting on the legacies left behind. Both have been quiet, however, since the death of Pete Rose.
For example: When Orlando Cepeda and Willie Mays died earlier this year, Clark and Manfred both gave quotes through their respective media-relations teams. In some instances, only one of the two parties will send such a statement, depending on what role a given person played in the sport. When Whitey Herzog, Larry Lucchino and Peter Angelos died this year, Manfred sent out a quote, while Clark last month mourned former union official Dick Moss.
Following Rose’s death on Monday, both MLB and the union did acknowledge the death of the sport’s all-time hits leader on social media. But by Tuesday afternoon, neither group had taken the step of sending out formal press releases quoting their top officials.
Manfred’s positions on Rose are well established. Manfred, like Bud Selig and Fay Vincent before him, has maintained Rose’s position on the sport’s permanently ineligible list after Rose was banished for betting on the game in 1989.
What’s been different about Manfred’s era, of course, is that MLB and other sports leagues have newly embraced gambling sponsorships. In March 2023, MLB named FanDuel its “official sports betting partner in North America.” Come July, Manfred was asked how he reconciles Rose’s ban with MLB’s ventures into gambling.
“People believe we make more money off gambling than we actually do,” Manfred said. “But let’s put that to one side. I think that for us, we’ve always approached the issue of gambling on the proposition that players and other people who are in a position to influence the outcome of the game are going to be subject to a different set of rules than everyone else in the world. Pete Rose violated what is sort of rule one in baseball, and you know, the consequences of that are clear in the rule. And we’ve continued to abide by all the rules. It’s just the rules are different for players, part of the responsibility that comes with the privilege of being a major-league player.”
In November 2022, Rose sent Manfred a letter asking for forgiveness. Manfred was asked about the letter the same month.
“You know, this is interesting,” Manfred said. “I believe that when you bet on baseball, from Major League Baseball’s perspective, you belong on the permanently ineligible list. When I dealt with the issue, the last time he applied for reinstatement, I made clear that I didn’t think that the function of that baseball list was the same as the eligibility criteria for the Hall of Fame. That remains my position. I think it’s a conversation that really belongs in the Hall of Fame board. I’m on that board, and it’s just not appropriate for me to get in front of that conversation.”
Asked in a follow-up to that answer whether he felt that Rose permanently should be banished, Manfred seemed to confirm as much.
“From my perspective, if you bet on baseball, you belong on the permanently eligible list,” Manfred said.
It wasn’t the first time Manfred had been down this road: Rose was a major topic going all the way back to Manfred’s first year as commissioner. In March of 2015, Manfred’s third month on the job, Manfred said Rose had submitted an application for reinstatement. That December, Manfred issued a four-page decision rejecting the bid.
“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 eligibility in 1989,” Manfred wrote. 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.”
Manfred also made clear then that he believed the question of whether Rose should be in the Hall of Fame was a separate issue, one for the Hall to handle. In 2016, Rose sent a letter to the Hall directly. The Hall’s position has been that its bylaws forbid anyone from the sport’s ineligible list from being considered for election.
Clark, whose job is to advocate for players, said in March 2015 he “would love to see Rose reinstated.” Clark doesn’t have a say in the process, however. The union is also in business with gaming companies, naming MGM Resorts an official partner in 2022.
(Top photo of Pete Rose speaking in 2015 after MLB for upheld his lifetime ban for gambling: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
