While the rest of baseball may shun Pete Rose, the former Reds manager and player was welcomed with open arms by the Cincinnati crowd Tuesday ahead of the MLB All-Star Game.
The moment served as a homecoming celebration of sorts for the much-maligned Rose, who is a native of the Ohio city and played for the Reds from 1963 to 1978, eventually returning to the team in 1986, where he served as player-manager for two years, and then as the team's manager from 1986 to 1989.
Yet he remains one of MLB's controversial figures. Still the league's leader of all-time career hits, Rose was indefinitely banned for life from baseball in 1989 after it was revealed that he bet on baseball games. As such, he's also ineligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. An "Outside the Lines" report showed he even placed bets as a player.
Rose, who was honored before the All-Star Game by the Reds alongside Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Barry Larkin with "Franchise Four" honors, has for over two decades fought for reinstatement. The most recent request was sent to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred this past March.
Unlike his predecessor Bud Selig, Manfred has suggested he is more open to considering Rose's case. However, the commissioner said while a review of the original investigative material is ongoing, he won't discuss a timetable on when discussions with Rose would take place.
"I remain committed to the idea that Mr. Rose deserves an opportunity to tell me in whatever format he feels most comfortable -- whatever he wants me to know about the issues," Manfred said Tuesday, according to the Indianapolis Star. "I'm sure there will be a meeting and we'll schedule that meeting for a point in time that I'm comfortable that I have a good grasp of all the factual material."
Rose said he and Manfred had the chance to talk, but said he doesn't know whether his reception will have any impact on Manfred's decision.
"I'm just happy that he's willing to review my status," Rose told Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal.
When asked what he thought his "chances" were of getting reinstated and then into Cooperstown, Rose had a pretty apt response.
"I'm not going to make any odds," he said, laughing.
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