The MLB has finally reinstated the legendary Pete Rose, and now his daughter is stepping up to the plate with an emotional pitch to get her late dad into the Hall of Fame.
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Fawn Rose, the eldest daughter of baseball legend Pete Rose, was overcome with emotion on Tuesday after learning that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had removed her father from the permanent ineligible list. The news brought her to tears.
Fawn was at the Seattle airport, preparing to board a flight to Cincinnati, when she received the life-changing update, according to a report from The Athletic.
“The emotion just kind of came over me,” Fawn admitted to the outlet. “I didn’t think the commissioner’s decision was going to affect me as much as it did.”
“I wish our dad was here to share this with our family and with all the fans,” Fawn added.
The legendary Reds icon passed away last September at the age of 83.
Rose is widely regarded as one of baseball’s greatest hitters. Despite retiring in 1986, he remains MLB’s all-time leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles, and outs. In 1989, Rose was banned from baseball for allegedly gambling on games as a player and manager for the Reds. In 1991, he was permanently barred from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
After years of denial, Rose finally confessed in 2004 to gambling on games.
Pete Rose’s Daughter Made Her Case to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Last Winter
Commissioners Fay Vincent, Bud Selig, and Rob Manfred all upheld the ban, with Manfred rejecting reinstatement requests in both 2015 and 2020. However, the decision finally changed on Tuesday.
Last December, Fawn met with Manfred and MLB chief communications officer Pat Courtney to plead her father’s case, according to The Athletic. With Rose now reinstated, he is eligible for Hall of Fame consideration. His case will be reviewed by the Classic Baseball Era Committee, which is scheduled to meet in December 2027.
“His achievements on the field, I don’t think there’s ever going to be another Pete Rose. Someone who played with heart and grit. [Who] left everything on the field and played every day for the fans,” Fawn told the committee. “When he made the comment that he’d run through [hell] in a gasoline suit [to play baseball], he meant that,” she added.
“He was really that blue-collar worker,” Faen continued. “That’s the one thing I would want the Hall of Fame to look at. The accomplishments of the player on the field. That’s really important. I know there’s the other side of it. I’m a parent. But I’m a kid.”
Meanwhile, the Reds celebrated the announcement by giving fans replica No. 14 Pete Rose jerseys during their matchup against the White Sox at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday.