MLB Commissioner Updates On Pete Rose Reinstatement Decision, Rose Speaks On Meeting

It’s been over two-and-a-half decades since Pete Rose was banned from baseball. He’ll find out by the end of 2015 if that ban will be upheld.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who took over this January, told WTEM radio that he’s planning an upcoming meeting with Pete Rose. Manfred also said that he’d have a decision on Rose’s possible reinstatement by the end of this year.

“We are in the process of finalizing our review of the files. We had a conversation (Wednesday) about scheduling a meeting with Mr. Rose. After that meeting I will give Mr. Rose a decision that will happen before the end of this year.”

Rose’s lawyer Raymond Genco said that Rose had no comment on Manfred’s statements, but Rose spoke to Fox Sports recently about his first meeting with Rob Manfred and his first impression of the new Major League Baseball commissioner.

“I got to meet him at the All-Star Game when we were over there with FOX working the game. What I liked about the commissioner just from my five or six minute meeting was he seemed to be a fan. He was a great guy and he just seemed like a real fan of the game of baseball and that’s what you need from a commissioner. Not only to make decisions, but to be a fan of the sport and I think Rob is.”

The all-time hit king, Rose was handed down a lifetime suspension in 1989 by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti for betting on Cincinnati Reds games in which he managed. Rose initially accepted the ban, but he would go on to unsuccessfully appeal the decision several times. When former commissioner Bud Selig retired earlier this season, Rose gained new hope. As of now, Rose is the last banned player to have his suspension upheld, as Marge Schott, Steve Howe, and George Steinbrenner were all reinstated before their deaths.

For years, Rose contended that he never bet on baseball, until ultimately admitting his guilt in January 2004. Rose has, however, said that he only bet on the Cincinnati Reds team, not against them.

The Reds were granted special permission to utilize Pete Rose at this year’s All-Star game, which took place in Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark. Rose took the field with Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Barry Larkin as the team’s “Franchise Four” as voted on by fans. Rose remains ineligible to be employed by a Major League Baseball Team or be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Rose is still seen at several Reds games throughout any given season and is often interviewed on the team’s Fox Sports broadcasts.

[Photo by Rob Carr/ Getty Images Sport]