Within MLB, a mostly celebratory tone for Pete Rose: ‘He belongs in the Hall of Fame’

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In the wake of Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision to remove Pete Rose from the sport’s permanently ineligible list, multiple active managers said they believed Rose, who was banned from the sport in 1989 for betting on his team while managing the Cincinnati Reds, should be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Good for Pete,” Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I’m happy for him. He belongs in the Hall of Fame.”

Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington, who made his big-league debut in 1977 in a game against Rose, concurred. “I think the game of baseball has to understand that Pete Rose is a Hall of Famer,” Washington said. “There’s no doubt about it. I don’t have anything to say about why he’s not, but it’s obvious he’s a Hall of Famer.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone acknowledged the severity of Rose’s infractions, which barred Rose from working within the game. “But when it came to the Hall of Fame, it’s pretty simple to me,” Boone said. “He should have always been in there.”

Boone, Counsell and Washington were two of the more prominent voices within the sport to praise Rose on Tuesday. The historic decision by Manfred removed Rose and 16 other deceased individuals, including Shoeless Joe Jackson, from the ineligible list. Rose, who died last year at 83, could be inducted in December of 2027 in a vote by the Hall of Fame’s Era Committees (formerly known as the Veterans Committee).

As a player, Rose’s resume was pristine. He remains the all-time leader in hits, with 4,256. Across 24 seasons, he made 17 All-Star teams and won three World Series. He captured the batting title on three occasions and won National League MVP in 1973. Yet his chronic gambling engulfed him after his playing career ended in 1986. Commissioner Bart Giammati banned Rose after investigator John Dowd determined Rose had placed bets on the Reds, a violation of the sport’s prohibition on gambling, known colloquially as Rule 21.

Manfred determined that because Rose, and the others, had died, “once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served,” Manfred wrote in a letter to the Rose family attorney, Jeffrey Lenkov. “Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game.”

Boone – whose father, Bob, played with Rose on the Philadelphia Phillies – said he spoke with Rose’s son, Pete Jr., after the announcement. The Rose family, Boone explained, had wanted their father to experience the Hall while he was alive, but “hopefully it is something that is ultimately good for the family.”

Former manager Jim Leyland, who was inducted into Cooperstown in 2024, stopped short of saying he expected Rose to be elected. When asked about Rose’s candidacy on the Starkville podcast, Leyland referenced his former player Barry Bonds, who was denied entry by both the Baseball Writers Association of America and later the Veterans Committee, likely because of his alleged usage of performance-enhancing drugs. He also noted the ubiquity of baseball’s gambling rules.

“The big thing is the fact that Rule 21 was the first rule we see when we ever go in a clubhouse as a professional,” Leyland said. “That seems to be the most important rule that we ever see when we go in a clubhouse as a professional. So people have different takes on that. I don’t really know the answer if somebody asked me today, would you vote for Pete Rose to go in the Hall of Fame. I really don’t know the answer. I’d have to think long and hard about that.

“You know, it’s something that everybody knows, that playing-wise, Pete Rose is a Hall of Famer. But once again, I refer back to the Bonds thing. Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer. But the question on both those guys, I think, now remains: Are they going to be elected to the Hall of Fame? And I have no idea.”

Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, a four-time World Series winner who is expected to earn entry into the Hall upon his retirement, said he was glad the Veterans Committee could decide Rose’s Hall fate. He declined to offer his own opinion on the matter.

“It’s not up to me, though,” Bochy said. “Good try. No, I just told you where I’m at with my stance on that. It’s not up to me.”

Bruce Bochy was behind the plate when Pete Rose set the all-time record with hit No. 4,192 on Sept. 11, 1985. (Gerry Wolter / The Enquirer)

San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt opted for an even more esoteric approach when asked about Rose and Jackson.

“All I know is they were two really, really, really good baseball players that played the game the right way, cared immensely about the game, had Hall of Fame talent,” Shildt said. “What they did relative to how they have been judged and are now judged is not for me to say. But I will say this: Grace is important. I think grace is a really important thing. Clearly, they made mistakes, and now they’re getting some grace. For me, I don’t think there’s any shortage of supply of grace in this world.”

Former New York Mets captain David Wright, while visiting Citi Field on Tuesday, called Rose’s reinstatement “great.” During his playing career, Wright recalled, he met Rose, who offered him the foremost commodity of his retirement: an autograph. “One of the coolest autographs that I got, he signed a picture to me and at the time — I don’t know how many hits I had, but whatever it was, he subtracted it from how many hits he had, and he put, ‘Long way to go,’ in the picture,” Wright said. “I thought that was really cool. I have that displayed proudly. I’m excited for him. Deservedly so. He’s the hit king.”

Not every player was so effusive. Robert Stock, a veteran of five big-league seasons and a current member of the Red Sox organization, mocked in a post on X the deepening relationship between Major League Baseball and various gambling outfits: “Pete Rose’s reinstatement brought to you by FanDuel!”

Counsell acknowledged that when it comes to baseball and betting, the slope has gotten more slippery. He mentioned how Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers recently received threats after a poor outing.

“Professional sports and their relationships with gambling have changed significantly,” Counsell said. “And then on the other end, hopefully we’re all a little more educated on it as well. But it’s part of us, for sure. And there’s going to be some bad things that come from it. The other day in Houston, a bad thing came from it. There’s going to be some issues with it.”

The Athletic’s Sam Blum, Brendan Kuty, Dennis Lin, Patrick Mooney, Will Sammon, Jayson Stark and Levi Weaver contributed reporting.

(Top photo of Craig Counsell: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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