Pete Rose Denied MLB Reinstatement

The irony should escape no one, and the issue may be put to rest permanently now. Pete Rose will not be reinstated by Major League Baseball because he continues to bet on baseball.

Betting on baseball while an active participant in the sport – and denying it and then admitting it – got Rose the lifetime ban that bars him from any managerial or coaching position as well as baseball’s Hall of Fame. And yet the very issue that keeps him out of the sport he served so well will continue to do so.

Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, seemed more inclined that his predecessors to listen to Rose’s appeal. He permitted Rose to take part in All-Star Game ceremonies last July in August because the game and the activities around it were in Cincinnati, where Rose enjoyed so much of his career success.

On Monday, however, Manfred issued his denial of Rose’s bid to rejoin his old world.

“Mr. Rose’s public and private comments, including his initial admission in 2004, provide me with little confidence that he has a mature understanding of his wrongful conduct, that he has accepted full responsibility for it, or that he understands the damage he has caused,” Manfred said in a statement that also cited Rose’s continued betting on baseball.

“I am also not convinced that he has avoided the type of conduct and associations that originally led to his placement on the permanently ineligible list.”

Baseball’s all-time leader in hits, whose aggressive style of play made him an ambassador for the sport, won’t be a part of it again any time soon. Charlie Hustle cannot hustle Rob Manfred.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .