Pete Rose would 'love to talk' to new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred

MLB all-time hits leader Pete Rose said he wants to talk to new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and tell him why he thinks he should be reinstated by baseball

Author:
SI Wire
Publish date:
Feb 11, 2015

MLB all-time hits leader Pete Rose said he wants to talk to new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and tell him why he thinks he should be reinstated by baseball, more than a quarter-century after he was banned for betting on games.

Rose was managing the Cincinnati Reds when he accepted A. Bartlett Giamatti’s ban after an investigation found Rose bet on the games. After years of denying the claim, he finally admitted to betting on games in 2004.

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Manfred said this week on ESPN radio that a possible reinstatement for Rose is “a conversation I'm willing to have,” and that he has heard from Rose’s lawyer.

"I wish I could tell that I know what he'll do,'' Rose said to USA Today. “But I've never met him. I've never seen him. But I'd love to talk to him.”

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If Rose is ever reinstated, he would like his potential candidacy to the Baseball Hall of Fame to be put to a vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

"I just want to be on that writer's ballot,” Rose said, according to the report. "Let the writers decide. If they want me in, I'm in. If they don't feel I should be in, I can live with it. If I've never been on the ballot, my clock should start at zero. That will give them 10 years to decide, if they need it.”

Rose, 73, says he will be at this year’s All-Star Game in Cincinnati, where he spent 19 seasons as a player and part of another seven seasons as a player/manager.

“All I know is that I've asked to go to the game,” he said. "I'll be there, even if I'm buying my own ticket."

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