Baseball great Pete Rose, in what is thought to be his last interview before he died at the age of 83 on Sept. 30, 2024, said he believed "that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die."
In a sit-down video interview with Dayton, Ohio, sportscaster John Condit on Sept. 20 for an undisclosed documentary, Rose questioned the point of getting into Cooperstown posthumously.
"I've come to the conclusion -- I hope I'm wrong -- that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die,'' Rose said in the interview, which took place 10 days before his death. "Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. That's what the Hall of Fame is for. Your fans and your family. And it's for your family if you're here. It's for your fans if you're here. Not if you're 10 feet under. You understand what I'm saying?
"What good is it going to do me or my fans if they put me in the Hall of Fame couple years after I pass away? What's the point? What's the point? Because they'll make money over it?''
Rose was placed on baseball's permanently ineligible list by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989 for gambling on baseball. Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2015 rejected Rose's bid for reinstatement, but sources told ESPN on Saturday that Manfred is reviewing a petition to posthumously remove MLB's career leader in hits from the ineligible list after meeting with Fawn Rose, the eldest daughter of Pete Rose, and Los Angeles lawyer Jeffrey Lenkov, who represented Rose prior to his death.
In 2020, ESPN reported that for all practical purposes, Manfred viewed baseball's banned list as punishing players during their lifetime but ending upon their death. A senior MLB source told ESPN then that after a banned player dies, MLB informally sees that the banning ends. In the past, Hall of Fame representatives have said that after a player dies -- and he is still on the banned list -- he still won't be eligible for consideration for the Hall of Fame.
Rose, who spent most of his 24-year career with the Cincinnati Reds, won the World Series three times and remains Major League Baseball's career leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles and outs. His name has never appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot.
"I've come to the conclusion -- I hope I'm wrong -- that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die. Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. ... What good is it going to do me or my fans if they put me in the Hall of Fame couple years after I pass away? What's the point? What's the point? Because they'll make money over it?" Pete Rose, in what is believed to be his last interview on Sept. 20 -- 10 days before he died.
In 2004, Rose admitted in a book that he gambled while he was manager of the Reds, but he insisted he bet only on his team to win. Years later, ESPN reported that Rose also placed bets as a player, but Rose wouldn't admit it.
"The Hall of Fame is for what you did on the field, not what you did off the field," Rose said in the interview with Condit. "You know, back in the '20s and '30s, there were some characters playing baseball. Ty Cobb was a character, OK. ... He got away with a lot of stuff. Babe Ruth drank a lot. But people didn't care as long as you played the game."
President Donald Trump last week said he would pardon Rose, though he did not say what the pardon would cover; Rose served five months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges in 1990.
Rose often said no player had won more major league games than him, and he echoed that in his interview with Condit.
"I'm not bitter about everything. I'm the one that f---ed up. Why am I going to be bitter?" Rose said. "When you make a mistake, don't be bitter to other people. I wish I hadn't made the mistake, but I did. It's history. Get over it. I didn't hurt you as a fan. ... I didn't hurt any of my fans by betting on the game of baseball -- and by the way, betting on the game of baseball to win. To win, OK?
"I wanted to win every game. ... I happened to win more than anybody else, but that's OK. Not bad."
ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. contributed to this report.