Pete Rose still might never get inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here's why.

There may be hurdles in front of Pete Rose's possible induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, even though Major League Baseball recently reinstated the legendary player.

Rose had been banned from baseball — and Hall of Fame eligibility — because he gambled on MLB games, but commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. declared earlier this week that permanent ineligibility "ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual."

'They take violations very seriously. Joe Jackson fixed games. OK? Pete Rose bet on games as a manager of one team. That doesn't go away.'

The decision affected 17 individuals — all of them players except for William Cox, a former owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, who was banned for betting on his team's games.

The most famous examples among the 17 are "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who died in 1951, and Rose, who died in 2024. Jackson was banned due to his part in the infamous Black Sox scandal of 1919, while Rose was shut out in 1989.

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While much of the commotion has surrounded the possibly of Rose being enshrined into the Hall of Fame after decades, it would not exactly be a walk in the park to get the former Cincinnati Red and Phillies phenom on a plaque.

The problems start to emerge when factoring in that Rose's eligibility period originally was from 1992 to 2006, according to the Associated Press.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has been accused of blocking Pete Rose's eligibility.Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Fortune Media

Rose garnered 41 write-in votes in 1992 and was written in on 243 more ballots over the next 15 years, but those votes did not count.

What's more, now that the ban has been lifted, both Rose and Jackson are eligible only for the Hall of Fame's Classic Baseball Era — and that requires a rigorous process prior to enshrinement in Cooperstown.

Jane Forbes Clark, who chairs the Hall of Fame board, told ESPN the first step will be a 10-person Historical Overview Committee that selects eight ballot candidates to present to the Classic Baseball Era Committee.

Who is on the committees?

While the identities of current members of the Historical Overview Committee are not known, they are assumed to be veteran members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Longtime sports broadcaster Tony Kornheiser knows how that goes.

"The baseball writers who are members put you in the Hall of Fame. Those baseball writers, as we know well, are guardians of the game," Kornheiser said on his show, "Pardon the Interruption."

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Kornheiser added, "They take violations very seriously. Joe Jackson fixed games. OK? Pete Rose bet on games as a manager of one team. That doesn't go away."

'Shoeless' Joe JacksonPhoto by Sporting News via Getty Images/Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images

If Rose and Jackson pass muster with the Historical Overview Committee, their names would be sent to the Classic Baseball Era Committee to vote at its next meeting.

Members of the Classic Baseball Era Committee presently include Hall of Fame players — icons such as Paul Molitor and Ozzie Smith, per ESPN. Jackson and Rose would need 12 votes from the 16-person Classic Baseball Era Committee to get into the Hall of Fame.

Another hurdle is the fact that it would take years for this process to play out. The Classic Baseball Era Committee, according to Clark, does not meet until December 2027. At that point, an entirely new committee could be in place — and who knows how they would view Rose and Jackson.

'It essentially comes down to whether the committees think gambling is worse than using human-growth hormones or steroids.'

Given that the MLB writers have excluded from the Hall of Fame some of the most successful players of all time — Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Alex Rodriguez, for example — potential inductions of players like Jackson and Rose may come down to where committee members draw their ethical lines.

"It essentially comes down to whether the committees think gambling is worse than using human-growth hormones or steroids," said Dave Shrigley, a writer and editor for Rebel News.

Shrigley told Blaze News, "Steroids weren't exactly banned by the league, so not only is there an ethical question, but there's also the question as to what is actually a ban-worthy offense."

Commissioner Manfred slightly touched on this topic in 2020 when he said Rose "violated what is sort of Rule One in baseball," adding that the MLB would continue "to abide by [its] own rules."

Some have criticized Manfred in the past for stonewalling Rose's possible induction, including in 2015 when he denied Rose's application for reinstatement.

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