COLUMBUS, Ohio — Pete Rose is appealing directly to baseball’s Hall of Fame to restore his eligibility, arguing the lifetime ban he agreed to in 1989 was never intended to keep him out of Cooperstown.
A seven-page letter to Hall president Jeff Idelson on Tuesday makes the case that the settlement agreement reached by Rose and then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti didn’t include a provision that he be ineligible for election to the Hall of Fame.
“At the time Pete agreed to the settlement, the consequences of being placed on the ineligible list were clear and specific — and did not include a Hall of Fame prohibition,” according to the letter, signed by Rose’s longtime attorney Raymond C.