The New York Daily News is reporting that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is thinking about lifting Pete Rose’s 20-year suspension.
Rose, who is the NFL’s all-time hits leader, was suspended my MLB in 1989 after an investigation showed he gambled on baseball while he both played for and managed the Cincinnati Reds.
Rose was suspended by then-commissioner Bart Giamatti. When Giamatti died unexpectedly eight days following the suspension, he was replaced by Fay Vincent. Vincent kept the suspension intact.
For years, the 68-year old Rose vehemently denied the accusations, but he admitted to gambling on the game in his 2004 book My Prison Without Bars. He still continued to deny gambling on his own team until he later admitted it on The Dan Patrick Show in 2007.
Over the weekend’s Baseball Hall of Fame festivities, Hank Aaron showed support for Rose being in Cooperstown.
“I would like to see Pete in,” Aaron said. “He belongs there.”
The New York Daily News is saying that Aaron’s recent comments might have triggered Selig’s reconsideration.
