(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader banned for life in 1989 for betting on games while playing and managing, wants new major league commissioner Rob Manfred to reinstate him.
Manfred, who took over from Bud Selig in January, said Monday that he has received a request from Rose to lift the life ban and is "prepared to deal with it on the merits," according to a posting on Major League Baseball's website.
"I do have a formal request from Pete and I intend to communicate with his representatives to talk about how to handle (a review process)," Manfred said.
Rose, who turns 74 next month, had a record 4,256 career hits in a 23-year playing career that included three World Series titles, two with the Cincinnati Reds and another with the Philadelphia Phillies, before ending in 1986.
Rose managed the Reds from 1984 to 1989 but was nagged by allegations of betting on major league games. One of the first acts by incoming commissioner Bart Giamatti in 1989 was to have attorney John Dowd conduct a probe into the claims.
Dowd's report documented bets in 1987 on 52 games involving the Reds and in August of 1989, Rose accepted a life ban while Major League Baseball made no formal finding regarding the gambling allegations. Giamatti died of a heart attack eight days after Rose's life ban was announced.
A consideration was whether or not Rose bet for or against his club, with the report saying no evidence was found that Rose bet against the Reds while managing them.
"I want to understand details of the Dowd report and Giamatti's decision and hear what Pete has to say and make a decision once I've done that," Manfred said.
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