Baseball Commissioner Selig Contemplating Reinstating Pete Rose?

MLB commissioner Bud Selig appears to be “seriously considering” reinstatement for Pete Rose from his lifetime ban from baseball, according to a new report. The issue of Rose’s possible re-instatement and election to the Hall of Fame remains a contentious one with baseball fans. The New York Daily News says Hall of Famer Hank Aaron told several reporters he would like to see Rose as a member of the Hall in Cooperstown. The report states former teammates and Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Frank Robinson also expressed their desire to see Rose’s ban lifted. The comments from such important icons of the game have apparently been taken under consideration by commissioner Selig.

Rose, nicknamed “Charlie Hustle,” totaled 4,256 hits in 24 seasons with Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Montreal, but was banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti, who served as baseball’s head man for only five months until a tragic heart attack. In 2004, after years of public denial, he admitted to betting on baseball and on, but not against, the Reds. If Rose were to become eligible, he would have to be voted into the Hall of Fame by the 65 living members that make up the Veterans Committee, because his 15 years of eligibility expired during his banishment.

On a related side-note Hank Aaron also commented to sports writers, that players suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs should have some kind of symbolic asterisk next to their accomplishments, should they be voted into the hall of fame. While in his view players who actually are proven to have taken performance-enhancing drugs should be banned from the hall altogether.