Pete Rose was right on with how MLB would handle him.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Tuesday that Rose, as well as other players who had been permanently banned by MLB, had their bans lifted. Manfred’s reasoning for the move was that permanent bans only last as long as the person is still alive. He made the change less than a year after Rose’s death in September at the age of 83.
Rose received a lifetime ban from MLB in 1989 for betting on games, including ones involving his team while he was the manager. Rose initially lied about the matter but finally admitted in 2004 that he bet on baseball and the Reds.
The question of whether or not Rose belonged in the Hall of Fame was a controversial one and prevalent in the sports world. Rose himself had said in interviews prior to his death that MLB would remove him from the permanently banned list upon his death.
During a May 2024 interview with Bret Boone, Rose predicted he would end up in the Hall of Fame — after his death.
“Ya, but I’ll be dead. They’ll wait til I die and then they’ll change of heart and put me on the list, and I’ll go from there,” Rose told Boone in an interview in May 2024.
You heard it on the Bret Boone Podcast first… my last chat with the hit 👑 #CoopersTown #PeteRose #BooneApproved
— Bret Boone (@theboone29) May 13, 2025
🎧: https://t.co/s4K8CawOsV pic.twitter.com/91dYWiFOc8
Rose had said the same thing to Ohio sportscaster John Condit for an interview on Sept. 20, 2024, ten days before Rose’s ultimate death.
Rose knew it was coming, and he knew it was his fault that he didn’t get into the Hall of Fame while he was alive. Not making it in was 100 percent due to his behavior, not his performance as a player.
Rose played in MLB from 1963-1986. He won NL Rookie of the Year in 1963 and NL MVP in 1973. He led the NL in batting average three times, on-base percentage twice, doubles five times, runs scored four times, and hits seven times. Rose retired as, and remains, MLB’s all-time leader in hits (4,256), games (3,562), at-bats (14,053) and plate appearances (15,890).
