MLBPA’s Tony Clark would like to see Pete Rose reinstated

Apr 14, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A Cincinnati Reds fan holds up a sign for Pete Rose (not pictured) birthday during the second inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 14, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A Cincinnati Reds fan holds up a sign for Pete Rose (not pictured) birthday during the second inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports /
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MLBPA executive director Tony Clark wants to see Pete Rose reinstated into the game of baseball.

Tony Clark believes Major league Baseball would be better off with having its all time hits leader Pete Rose involved. It is a sentiment that is not all that shocking when one understands the position Mr. Clark occupies. The former all star first baseman, who played for six teams during his career (most notably the Detroit Tigers from 1995-2001), currently serves as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, or MLBPA for short. He has held said title since his appointment in 2013, upon the death of former ED Michael Weiner.

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Rob Manfred, the newest and tenth commissioner in Major League Baseball history, will take a look at Rose’s case. He has said recently that he will have to go back and examine all of the reports that took place prior to his full time arrival in the MLB’s front office back in 1998. Rose officially applied for reinstatement on Monday.

Rose, now 73 years of age, has been on baseball’s permanently ineligible list since 1989 when he agreed to the designation in exchange for a dismissal of the federal investigation regarding then alleged gambling on games he had been playing/managing in. The former outfielder/infielder for Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and Montreal Expos (for 95 games in 1984), admitted to his charges in 2004.

Since his banishment from the game, Rose has been the subject of an ongoing debate concerning his legacy and whether he should ever be allowed back into Major League Baseball itself.

Though his exclusion from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York does not directly stem from his standing with the MLB, the museum elected in 1991 to bar any and all members of the game’s permanently ineligible list from future balloting. Thus, Rose was never given the chance to appear on it.

He would have been eligible on the writers’ ballot from 1992-2006. In 2008, the veterans committee elected to follow suit with the writers and bar those whom occupy baseball’s permanently ineligible list as well.

Rose holds the game’s all time record for base hits with 4,256, as well as those for at bats (14,053), plate appearances (15,890), and games played (3,562). He is also second all time in career doubles, and first among switch hitters with 746. He won the 1973 National League MVP award, two gold gloves, a silver slugger, was selected to 17 all star games, led the league in hits seven times, and collected three batting titles.

“Charlie Hustle” was a member of three separate World Series winning ball clubs; playing on the Reds’ “Big Red Machine” in 1975 and 1976, as well as with the Phillies in 1980, when the franchise collect its first championship.

Though he spent a good portion of his career at five different positions, he is remembered primarily for his time in left field, where the JAWS system of advanced player metrics ranks him as the fifth greatest LF in baseball history.

H/T Sports Illustrated

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