USA TODAY: Commissioner Rob Manfred made it explicitly clear Monday that Pete Rose will not only remain on baseball’s ineligibility list, but it will never change.Manfred made sure his ruling was as transparent as possible, and when he laid down the facts in his ruling, how can anyone in the world disagree with his ruling? “Really, there is no other decision,’’ former Commissioner Fay Vincent, whose office originally banned Rose from baseball in 1989, told USA TODAY Sports. “This is the right decision. Any criticism of it would be out of concern for Pete Rose. This is absolutely the proper decision.’’ While Rose begged for mercy and forgiveness, acknowledging he had a gambling problem and lied back in 1989, Manfred informed him that MLB investigators confirmed information in the O’Dowd report that cited Rose also gambled as a player in 1986, and perhaps in 1985, not just as a manager in 1987. So he played 72 games for the Cincinnati Reds, making 272 plate appearances, in which he actually was gambling on games as an active player.The O’Dowd report also said that Rose gambled as a player in 1985 when he played 119 games and had 501 plate appearances, which Manfred now believes. Sure, it has been 26 years since he’s been banned, longer than some criminals served on murder charges, but Manfred specifically cites that Rose still has “not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life.’’ Rose says he is a changed man in one sentence, but in the other, acknowledges that even today he bets on the horses, sporting events, and, yes, even Major League Baseball, while employed as a Fox Sports analyst. MORE
