Former Cincinnati Red Pete Rose was inducted into a Hall of Fame on Sunday. It probably wasn’t the one Rose has been hoping for, however.
As part of a weekend-long celebration, Rose was honored by the Reds. It started with a celebration of Cincinnati’s 1976 World Series championship team on Friday. Then, Rose was inducted into the Reds’ Hall of Fame on Saturday and had his No. 14 retired on Sunday.
It's official. #14forever pic.twitter.com/98X1cgczvm
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 26, 2016
The decision to honor Rose was announced back in January and came with some hurdles. Because of Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball, Cincinnati had to get league approval to honor Rose.
Rose is the last member of the Big Red Machine’s “elite eight” to be inducted into the team’s hall of fame. And despite Rose’s murky past, fans, as well as current and past members of the Reds had nice things to say about Rose.
“He was self-motivated beyond everybody else,” Johnny Bench said. “You have a guy that’s getting 200 hits a year, making the All-Star team, he makes us better. The guy who sets up the lineup like he did was just out of the world. He was the table-setter, he was the inspiration for all of us. It was a joy to come to the park and be around him and play with him every day.”
Rose’s induction into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame still has no impact on his reinstatement into baseball. Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader last applied for reinstatement April 1, 2015, but was denied by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
This isn’t the first time MLB made an exception to allow Rose back into the ballpark. Most recently, he was honored at Great American Ballpark before last year’s All-Star Game.
