Pete Rose asks for reinstatement, cites Astros and steroids

ORLANDO, Fla. — Pete Rose again asked Major League Baseball to end his lifetime ban, saying the penalty is unfair compared with discipline for steroids use and electronic sign stealing. “The time has come to recognize that Mr. Rose’s penalty has become grossly disproportionate relative to Major League Baseball’s treatment of severe wrongdoing by ownership, management and players,” the petition said. These acts manifestly and deliberately violate the spirit and letter of the rules.” Rose, who turns 79 in April, asked to meet with Manfred, who in his 2015 denial wrote that the 17-time All-Star had “not presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life either by an honest acceptance by him of his wrongdoing, so clearly established in the Dowd Report, or by a rigorous, self-aware and sustained program of avoidance by him of all the circumstances that led to his permanent ineligibility.” Rose cited the joint drug agreement between MLB and the players’ association, which calls for 80-game suspensions for first offenders for performance-enhancing drugs, 162-game bans for second offenders and lifetime bans for thirds penalties with a chance for reinstatement. “That guiding principle has not changed, but Major League Baseball’s reactions to potential threats to the integrity of the game have greatly evolved since Mr. Rose’s conduct resulted in a lifetime ban from the game in 1989, and more particularly since his 2015 petition for reinstatement.” Rose also asked baseball’s Hall of Fame to remove the prohibition adopted by the Hall’s board of directors in 1991 to prohibit players on the permanently ineligible list from appearing on the Hall ballot of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.