“Pete Rose Reinstated: Why Baseball Purists Say the Game Will Never Be the Same”

MLB’s Decision to Make Rose Eligible for Hall of Fame Is a Betrayal to Late Commissioner Bart Giamatti, Says His Son

Pete Rose is Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in hits.

When Bart Giamatti banned Pete Rose from Major League Baseball in August 1989, he had been serving as commissioner for less than five months. Giamatti had left his prestigious position as president of Yale University to work in the sport he loved, never imagining that a scandal would come to define his tenure—or that it would end so quickly.

Just a week after announcing the permanent ban of baseball’s all-time hit leader, Giamatti died of a heart attack at the age of 51.

Pete Rose’s Reinstatement by MLB: The Good, the Bad, and the Ridiculous

On Tuesday, Major League Baseball officially lifted the lifetime ban on Pete Rose. Here’s a breakdown of the good, the bad, and the downright ridiculous in this story.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the man once famously known as “Charlie Hustle” during his playing days is no longer permanently banned from the game.

The question is: why didn’t those in charge release Rose from his ban years—or even just months—before his death at age 83 last September at his home in Las Vegas?

As for the ridiculous part? Well, anyone who could tell a catcher’s mitt from a Cracker Jack box knew that the moment Rose took his last breath, the door to the game would open for him again.

Yes, that’s Pete Rose. As a baseball historian, he understood that eventually, common sense and his career resume would align. What he didn’t expect was that it would happen only after his death. It’s a sad, unnecessary, and frankly absurd delay. By the end of his 24-season MLB career in 1986, Rose was already an unofficial Hall of Famer. And his credentials went beyond just his record-setting 4,256 career hits.

Now, Rose is officially eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2028.

Here’s how it works: First, the Historical Overview Committee must nominate Rose for the 2027 Classic Baseball Era ballot. Then, to finally earn that bronze plaque in Cooperstown, he would need 12 out of 16 votes from a committee made up of four former players, four executives, and four historians.