MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred calls decision to take Pete Rose off permanently ineligible list 'difficult'

Major League Baseball removed Pete Rose from its permanently ineligible database earlier this month. 

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said that the determination to reinstate Rose was "difficult."

"It's a hard determination due to the fact that radical are passionate astir issues similar this," Manfred said successful a caller quality connected "CBS Mornings." 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Pete Rose waves to his fans during the unveiling of a bronze statue dedicated to him astatine Great American Ball Park connected Saturday, Jun. 17, 2017. (IMAGN)

"When you travel up (on) the broadside of the concern that I came up, surviving up to your agreements is simply a truly important happening and this was overdue successful my opinion." 

Manfred said determination were 3 antithetic factors that drove the determination to reinstate MLB's deed king.

"Number one: Our permanently ineligible database is efficaciously a prohibition connected moving successful the game. This is simply a substance of logic. There's nary crushed to person a idiosyncratic who has passed distant inactive connected that list. Number two: Pete Rose is simply a portion of the past of our game. Every different player, including 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, has been considered by the Hall of Fame and they've made a decision. I saw nary crushed to permission Pete Rose retired determination arsenic 1 of one, nary consideration," Manfred said. 

YOUTH BASEBALL GETS MLB TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE AS PERFECT GAME PARTNERS WITH PITCHCOM

Oct 29, 2024; New York, NY, USA; MLB commissioner Rob Manfred earlier crippled 4 of the 2024 MLB World Series betwixt the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees astatine Yankee Stadium. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)

"And then, last, I deliberation what radical don't recognize is Pete Rose wasn't disciplined by commissioner (Bart) Giamatti. He entered a colony statement with the league. At the clip they entered into that settlement, helium went connected the permanently ineligible database knowing that the rules allowed the Hall of Fame to see him. Commissioner Giamatti went out, had a property league the time of the colony and helium was asked astir the Hall of Fame and helium said this colony should person thing to bash with the Hall of Fame," Manfred said.

"The Hall of Fame should see Pete Rose nether its existing rules. So I spot the determination arsenic shot surviving up to the woody that they primitively made with Pete Rose."

Rose died astatine property 83 successful September 2024, but the statement astir whether helium should beryllium successful the Hall of Fame has raged on. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Pete Rose's girl Fawn Rose speaks arsenic Reds Hall of Fame players, near to right, George Foster, Barry Larkin and Eric Davis perceive during Pete Rose Night events earlier a shot crippled betwixt the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, successful Cincinnati.  (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The Cincinnati Reds star became a polarizing fig erstwhile quality of his gambling connected games rocked the sports world. Rose received a beingness prohibition from MLB successful 1989, but aft his removal from the permanently ineligible list, volition beryllium eligible to beryllium voted connected for the archetypal time. 

Rose is MLB’s deed king with 4,256 career hits. He was the National League MVP successful 1974 and was a 17-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion and a three-time batting champion. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports sum connected X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.