Make no mistake: if Pete Rose gets reinstated, it will 100% be because Rob Manfred loves Donald Trump and wants to do nice things for him. There is literally no other reason for doing so and no other precedent for doing so.
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Other than Steinbrenner, whose crimes were understood at the time to be vastly less serious than Rose's, have any other banned baseball figures been un-permabanned? I genuinely can't recall.
Thank you so much! I actually don't think I'd ever heard about Mejia and Howe being permanently banned, then unbanned. And I'm pretty sure I learned that about Mays and Mantle at one point but had long since forgotten. That's fascinating.
Coppolella, I ought to have remembered. Interesting story.
i would like to see the fanduel line on whether or not he will announce a lifetime ban for a current player gambling on their phone in the same press release
I thought David Samson had an interesting theory (around 11:15 of his podcast - https://www.youtube.com/live/9xB4he0petk?si=PkSd7fO6q9I1yoVo) - might this be connected to the possible closing of the owner's tax loophole, or rescinding anti-trust exemption?
Manfred could well make a bad choice here (plenty of precedent!) and it could well be because he loves Donald Trump if so (I have no idea!), but I think it's worth noting that the petition for reinstatement was received back in January. This wasn't kicked off because of Trump's tweet.
I guess the thought experiment -- results unknowable, I'll grant -- is if a family petition plus silence from the oval office would result in any action or, for that matter, any unattributed leak like the one from over the weekend that Manfred is considering it.
I imagine we'll find out soon enough, because the last time he considered one of these petitions, he refused to reinstate Rose (though Rose was obviously still alive in 2015) and told everyone about it.
Probably so. But given the Trump factor, if he rejects it I suspect it'll hit the inbox like a Dominican Summer League PED suspension: 5:46pm on a Friday.
the one note that has me thinking it'll be different this time was tucked away in (I think) an ESPN story, that said something like "Manfred sees bans as ended once the banned player is dead"
He may well reinstate him, but I think "Manfred has had a petition in front him since January that we're just hearing about now" is appreciably different than "Trump does deranged Rose tweet, inspiring Manfred to newly consider the question."
It was never proven that Jackson participated in throwing a game. There are reports that a “confession” was elicited by getting him drunk. And the other teammates involved said he wasn’t in on it they just used his name to give more credibility.
The issue is that he bet on baseball games involving his club. It doesn’t matter who he picked to win. That has always meant permanent ineligibility. Permanent. Not a “lifetime” ban.
Does every major league team in every major league sport now having an official gambling platform or casino where betting on that sport is encouraged cause you any annoyance in this area? Is a pro athlete gambling, but not on his/her sport, OK?
I feel current promotions make any bans hypocritical.
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Mays and Mantle were also unbanned after they got the axe in the 80s for being greeters at a casino.
I think that’s everyone who has been unbanned in the modern era.
Coppolella, I ought to have remembered. Interesting story.
It was never proven that Jackson participated in throwing a game. There are reports that a “confession” was elicited by getting him drunk. And the other teammates involved said he wasn’t in on it they just used his name to give more credibility.
I feel current promotions make any bans hypocritical.