MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is concerned that Rose is still betting on baseball.
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MLB's lifetime ban on Pete Rose for gambling on the game as a manager will not be lifted by new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
A report in the New York Times first announced this news.
Rose is MLB's all-time hit leader, and was banned from baseball in 1989 after investigations revealed he had bet on the outcome of games while managing the Cincinnati Reds. In June 2015, an ESPN report revealed that Rose had allegedly bet on the outcome of games while he was a player-manager for the team as well.
MLB announced Monday that Rose's request for reinstatement by the league was denied, and that he had been given notice "both verbally and in writing" about the decision.
Rose applied for reinstatement when Manfred was elected commissioner, replacing longtime commissioner Bud Selig, and Manfred and Rose met face-to-face in September.
During the meeting, Rose told Manfred "that currently he bets recreationally and legally on horses and sports, including Baseball." In a letter of his decision, Manfred calls that discloser "significant." In a footnote at the end of the decision, Manfred says: "Even more troubling, in our interview, Rose initially denied betting on Baseball currently and only later in the interview did he 'clarify' his response to admit such betting."
Rose admitted to the commissioner that "he bet extensively on Cincinnati Reds games in 1987," but claimed to not remember "many facts established" that "demonstrate conclusively" his betting on games in other years, and as a player.
Manfred asserts that MLB's interest is in upholding Rule 21, which disallows betting on baseball. Regarding Rose's current — legal — betting on horses and sports, Manfred said the legality "does not mean that the bets would be permissible if made by a player or manager subject to Rule 21."
"In short, Mr. Rose has not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing, so clearly established by the Dowd Report, or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of all the circumstances that led to his permanent ineligibility in 1989. Absent such credible evidence, allowing him to work in the game presents an acceptable risk of a future violation by him of Rule 21, and thus to the integrity of our sport. I, therefore, must reject Mr. Rose's application for reinstatement."
In the years since his lifetime ban, Rose has managed to stay adjacent to baseball. He was allowed to make an appearance at the 2015 All-Star Game in Cincinnati, and worked as an analyst on FOX Sports during the 2015 playoffs. While banned, Rose remains ineligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
MLB's full decision is below:
