“Anything positive for Dad is always a good thing in our family. Just grateful that the commissioner decided to take him off the list and maybe give him a chance to get in the Hall of Fame someday. But that’s down the road. We’ll see what happens and where this goes.”
The earliest Rose could earn induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame is 2028 because the Historical Overview Committee, which “evaluates candidates who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1980″ doesn’t meet again until December 2027.
Rose Jr., who played in 11 games for the Reds in 1997, attended Pete Rose Night at Great American Ball Park with other family members on Wednesday.
“We’re just excited to go down the ballpark and celebrate Pops,” Rose Jr. said. “I think the city of Cincinnati is really buzzing about it. It would be so much more special if Dad was here and able to enjoy it.”
Rose Jr. was optimistic about Commissioner Rob Manfred reversing previous decisions about the status of Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader. The process started when Fawn Rose, the daughter of the baseball great, filed a petition with Manfred and then met with him late in 2024.
All this happened while Rose Jr. grieved after his dad died in September.
“I’m still trying to deal with my dad not being around,” Rose Jr. said. “I can’t call him during games. If something happens, I can’t pick up the phone. We’re still kind of navigating our way through that. I’m very grateful that she was able to go up there and talk to him, and it was funny she was talking that maybe she should have met with him before and maybe something would have happened sooner.”
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