CINCINNATI — Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is allegedly considering a petition to have Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose posthumously removed from baseball's ineligible list, according to a report from ESPN.
The petition, filed by Pete Rose's family on Jan. 8, would see the all-time hit leader removed from the MLB's banned list for betting on baseball. It also comes roughly six months after Rose died at 83.
According to ESPN, Manfred has met with Fawn Rose, Pete Rose's oldest daughter, as well as Jeffrey Lenkov, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented Rose prior to his death. Manfred is now reviewing the petition to reinstate Rose, per ESPN.
Manfred's petition consideration comes just a day after President Donald Trump said he would posthumously pardon Rose. Trump also called for the MLB to induct Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame. According to ESPN, Lenkov had "not actively sought" the White House's assistance in his efforts to seek reinstatement for Rose.
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Rose was banned from baseball for life by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989, the same year he was fired as a manager for the Reds. For years, Rose denied the accusations that he gambled on baseball before eventually admitting in his autobiography that he did bet on games, including Cincinnati's, while with the Reds. He claimed he never bet against the Reds.
Rose applied for reinstatement several times throughout his life, but his requests were rejected.
According to ESPN, Lenkov declined to release the petition that he sent to Manfred, but he said the petition describes "what Rose would have said honestly and candidly to Commissioner Manfred, if he had been able to attend that meeting."
Throughout his career, Rose won the World Series three times and remains MLB's career leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles and outs.
