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CBS News
9 hours ago
- Sport
- CBS News
Eagles DC Vic Fangio honors his favorite Phillie and Hall of Famer Dick Allen
Before waxing coach talk about his players Tuesday at training camp, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio opened his press conference unveiling a prized recent gift: a Philadelphia Phillies No. 15 Dick Allen jersey. "The guys, I asked them to get me this for me," Fangio said. "And they came through. My all-time favorite Phillie right there. He was their best player when I was young, and he was obviously a great player." Allen was posthumously inducted Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame after a far-too-long push by his former teammates, family and friends. The former Phillies and White Sox slugger was called to the Hall in December by the Classic Baseball Era committee. The Phillies retired Allen's No. 15 in 2020, months before he died at the age of 78. Allen was the first Black superstar to play for the Phillies, who were one of the last MLB teams pre-expansion to integrate. Last season, the Phils unveiled a "Pioneers in Pinstripes" display at Citizens Bank Park honoring Allen, John Irving Kennedy — the first Black player to play for the franchise — and other trailblazers in the organization's integration history. Allen finished his MLB career with 351 home runs and a .912 OPS in 15 seasons. He won the NL Rookie of the Year in 1964 with the Phillies. After facing racism for years in Philadelphia, Allen demanded a trade in 1970 and was moved to the St. Louis Cardinals. He spent a year with the Cardinals, then was traded to the Dodgers in 1971 and then to the White Sox in 1972, where he won the AL MVP. He finished his career with a 58.8 bWAR in an era largely defined by pitching dominance. "Dick was a sensitive Black man who refused to be treated as a second-class citizen," Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt, Allen's former teammate in Philadelphia, said during the 2020 ceremony. "He played in front of home fans that were products of that racist era (with) racist teammates and different rules for Whites and Blacks. Fans threw stuff at him, and thus Dick wore a batting helmet throughout the whole game. "They yelled degrading racial slurs," Schmidt added. "They dumped trash in his front yard at his home. In general, he was tormented and it came from all directions. And Dick rebelled." Fangio doesn't shy away from his Philadelphia sports fandom. The Dunmore, Pennsylvania, native is a die-hard Phillies fan — he wore a Phillies hat during his first press conference of training camp last week. In 2017, Fangio told The Athletic that he doesn't "sleep at night until I know whether the Phillies won or lost. Even if they're on the West Coast." On Tuesday, Fangio recalled playing 18 rounds of golf with Hall of Fame pitcher Rich "Goose" Gossage a couple of years ago. Gossage was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008. During his Cooperstown speech, Gossage said Allen was the "greatest player I ever played with." While golfing with Fangio, Gossage, who played with Allen with the White Sox, echoed that sentiment to the Birds' D-coordinator. "We played 18 holes. We rode the same cart, and obviously, I talked baseball with him," Fangio said. "Said [Allen] was the best teammate he had ever had."
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
‘Once in a generation' – The All-Star throw that rocketed Dave Parker to Cooperstown
Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of the game. They had been teammates for one day, nearly four years earlier. One hit a game-tying homer and drove in the go-ahead run with a walk. The other nailed two runners on the bases with some of the most hellacious throws anyone had ever seen. Advertisement Dave Parker, the fielder, was the Most Valuable Player of that 1979 All-Star Game. Lee Mazzilli, the hitter, was not. Reunited with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1983, Parker reveled in the reminders. 'If you knew the Parkway, he was a trash talker, in a good way, to everyone,' Mazzilli, a Met in 1979, said by phone this week. 'It didn't matter who you were. It was always a good back and forth. I'd say, 'Yeah, the only reason you won it was because you misjudged the ball!'' Actually, Mazzilli said, Parker lost a Jim Rice pop-up in the roof of the Seattle Kingdome, only to recover it — in foul territory by the right field bullpen mounds — and fire a one-hop strike to third base to nail Rice. But that play, in the seventh, merely foreshadowed an even better one in the eighth, when Parker unleashed a rocket, on the fly, to cut down the go-ahead run. It was the kind of moment that sent a signal from the spire of the Space Needle to the halls of Cooperstown. And while it took decades to receive that message, the Hall of Fame finally elected Parker last December in a vote by the Classic Baseball Era committee. He will be inducted on July 27, four weeks after his death from Parkinson's Disease at age 74. 'He had a cannon,' said Larry Bowa, the National League's starting shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1979. 'Not only did he throw good, the ball was always low, one-hop to the catcher. It was of those where you say: 'Once in a generation.' 'He took a lot of pride in defense, he could steal bases, hit home runs, hit for average. And he had that saying: 'When the leaves turn brown, I'll be wearing the batting crown.'' Parker had indeed won the NL batting title in 1977 and 1978, his MVP season, when he also led the majors in OPS (.979) and won his second of three Gold Gloves. Keith Hernandez, then with the St. Louis Cardinals, followed Parker as batting champion in 1979 and was co-MVP with Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell. Advertisement When Parker's Pirates won the World Series that fall, it further cemented a status widely shared by Hernandez and his peers. 'He was the best player in the game from '78 to the early '80s,' Hernandez said last week. 'I can only speak for myself, but he was the best player in the game.' Hernandez made the last out in the top of the eighth inning in the 1979 All-Star Game, after Mazzilli's leadoff homer off Jim Kern had tied it, 6-6. Leading off for the AL in the bottom of the eighth was Angels catcher Brian Downing, in the only All-Star appearance of his career. Downing played 20 seasons and actually compiled more bWAR than Parker (51.5 for Downing, who walked a lot, compared to 40.1 for Parker, who didn't). This was Downing's best season, and he made the most of his chance with a single off future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter, a master of the split-finger fastball. After a sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk and a strikeout, Graig Nettles came up. Here's how the play looked on NBC: Downing, 74, lives on a ranch in Texas now and said he has never watched any highlights from his career. But, he said in a rare interview late last year, the details of the Parker play are etched in his memory. We'll let Downing describe it in full: 'Okay, so I'm thinking Bruce Sutter and Graig Nettles — just looking at the way Sutter throws it and Nettles' swing, he's going to either hit a hard ground ball up the middle for a hit, a hard grounder to right for a hit or, more likely, a one-hop drive right at frickin' Parker in fairly shallow right on a fast Astroturf field. 'So I'm going to get the best lead I can without getting picked off, and I'm going to get as good of a secondary lead as I can, which I've always done. And I have to assume he's going to hit that line drive on one hop, which, to my chagrin, that's exactly what happened. Advertisement 'I got as good a jump as I could get. I'm happy with all that because I was ready for it. And I made the turn and now I'm coming around third. And I have no problem with violence. Full speed, I don't care. But as I'm coming, I'm thinking of the Pete Rose play (with Ray Fosse in 1970) and all that, I don't want to hurt somebody. Because if you run into a catcher, which I was at that point, you're out 99 percent of the time, automatically. You're not knocking it loose unless you're Bo Freaking Jackson. And my theory when I was on second is that I'd have to run into him, assuming there's going to be a play at the plate. 'But from my vantage point coming around third, the front of the plate was wide open, if not the whole plate. And I don't even see Gary Carter because I'm concentrating on the plate. He's at least a full step away from the plate. So the plate is wide open and I'm going to take a headfirst dive, which I've always done, and try to grab the top, left-side corner. And at that point, when I start to do that, he's not around. 'So I'm in the slide, and all of a sudden he comes up and blocks my hand off. Carter made an awesome play. I was headed to a wide-open plate, and I never saw any of that. It was just like a magic trick. It showed up on me, there it is. I thought it was something I've done many times — headfirst, grab the plate before they can get me — and it didn't happen because two Hall of Famers made Hall of Fame plays, both of 'em.' Two years earlier, in 1977, Parker had recorded 26 outfield assists, a total unmatched in the major leagues since. Most runners knew better than to bait Parker, who gleefully accepted the challenge. 'I loved throwing out runners,' he said in December, in his conference call with reporters after the Hall of Fame election. 'And if they kept running, I would hit him in the back of the head with the ball.' In interviews after the All-Star Game, Parker said that he had wanted to make a one-hop throw to the plate, but it took off. He credited Carter — as Joe Garagiola did, effusively, on NBC — for saving the play. Carter, who was then with the Montreal Expos, told reporters it was 'the biggest play of my career.' Like Parker, Carter relished the spotlight. He would win two All-Star MVPs himself, in 1981 and 1984, but this one belonged to Parker, who was brash enough to tell his Pirates teammates, before leaving for Seattle, that he would win it. Advertisement In 'Cobra,' his 2021 memoir with Dave Jordan, Parker said that when commissioner Bowie Kuhn handed him the trophy, it meant more to him than his batting titles. 'I carried that thing through the dugout, up the stairs to the clubhouse, out the stadium, back through the doors of the Olympic Hotel,' Parker and Jordan wrote. 'It sat beside me on the hotel bar while I cooled out with some of the fellas. I might've even bought it a drink. I stared at the trophy before I fell asleep. I carried it through Sea-Tac Airport like a damn Cabbage Patch doll. 'If you've ever won something you really wanted and everyone mocked you for holding on to it for days, guess what. I was right there with you, baby.' Parker won't be there in Cooperstown for the biggest honor of all. But he always knew his day was coming. When asked in December if he considered himself a Hall of Famer when he played, Parker had no hesitation. 'Without a doubt,' he said. One month ago Friday, the Mets' David Peterson fired the first shutout of his career, a six-hitter with no walks and six strikeouts in a 5-0 victory over the Washington Nationals. He seemed bound for another in Baltimore on Thursday, but manager Carlos Mendoza pulled him with a 1-0 lead after a leadoff single in the eighth. 'You're already in the eighth inning, 90 pitches,' Mendoza explained later, after the Orioles came back off Ryne Stanek for a 3-1 win. 'He did his part.' OUTS RECORDED AFTER THE SIXTH INNING THIS SEASON BY METS STARTERS David Peterson: 25 Everyone Else: 8 — Tim Britton (he/him) (@ July 10, 2025 at 1:56 PM Mendoza's decision – despite Peterson's reasonable pitch count – highlights the relative disappearance of the shutout, something only seven others have accomplished this season: Cincinnati's Andrew Abbott, Detroit's Tarik Skubal, St. Louis' Erick Fedde and Sonny Gray, San Diego's Michael King and Stephen Kolek and Texas' Nathan Eovaldi. Advertisement Baseball, then, is on a single-season record pace for fewest complete-game shutouts. Last year, teams threw 321 shutouts but pitchers went the distance just 16 times, tied with 2022 for fewest in a full season in AL/NL history. No active pitcher has more than three in a season, and the active leader, Clayton Kershaw, hasn't had one since 2016. Peterson, a first-round pick from the University of Oregon in 2017, threw 106 pitches in his shutout, seven shy of his career high from 2023. After Thursday's start, he is 6-4 with a 3.06 ERA, and his 109 innings easily lead the Mets' battered pitching staff. Here's Peterson with a few thoughts on the increasingly rare pitching gem. Strikeouts and shutouts don't always mix: 'I'm trying to go as deep as I can in every game. My goal is if I can go all nine, then I'll go all nine. But there's a lot to do with pitch counts and workload management and all that stuff that kind of gets in the way of guys getting to that position. A lot of people are fascinated with chasing the strikeouts and doing all this and doing all that. There's a price to pay that comes with that, which is usually the pitch count goes up if you're going to be trying to chase punchouts.' His last shutout, in 2017, was a big one: 'It was very special — I struck out 20 guys. It was like 128 pitches, I think. (Writer's note: Actually 123.) I knew (the strikeout total) because earlier in the year I had struck out 17 against Mississippi State, and after the eighth inning, I overheard somebody say where I was at. But it wasn't really like a thought in my mind until I overheared something.' Overanalysis hurts the cause: 'For me growing up, watching guys in the '90s and 2000s, they would be regularly at 110 pitches in a start. But now I feel like teams can take so many things into account, they probably overanalyze the situation a little bit: 'Well, he went 100 last start and he's getting close again now, and where are we in the season?' I think early in the year somebody had a chance to get a complete game, and they got pulled at like 85 pitches or something like that. So it feels like there's a lot more factors that work against it.' It helps to be a student of pitching: 'Andy Pettitte was a huge guy that I watched growing up — Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, all those guys. It didn't really matter for me, left or right. Josh Beckett, (Jered) Weaver for the Angels. And then Kershaw, (Max) Scherzer, (Justin) Verlander, that next wave, I felt like there was such an abundance of good starting pitchers to watch. There's a ton of guys and everyone did stuff differently and they had their own way of going about it. I felt like you could learn a lot from people just in terms of the individuality of their pitching style or the mechanics or how they go about the game on the mental side.' Advertisement One for the trophy case: 'Pete (Alonso) gave me the final out and then I got the lineup card, too. It was special for me and it was especially special to share with my teammates, because you only see it every now and then. As the game changes, some of those things get held in a different regard over time.' The Chicago White Sox's All-Star next week will be pitcher Shane Smith, a Rule 5 draft choice who earned the spot with a 2.37 ERA in his first 13 starts. Alas, Smith has lost his four starts since then, with a 12.33 ERA. It will be another year without a South Side Cy Young Award winner. The White Sox franchise has had only three, including Early Wynn, who fit last weekend in the square for a Cy Young winner with 200 career wins. Wynn, who shares a name with the stat (or a pronunciation, anyway) actually collected 300 exactly on his way to the Hall of Fame. Wynn won the MLB Cy Young in 1959, followed by LaMarr Hoyt (1983) and Jack McDowell (1993), who won the AL awards. Those were the only years the team made the postseason from 1920 to 1999, and the similarities don't end there. All three Cy winners led the majors in victories — Wynn and McDowell were 22-10, Hoyt 24-10 — and all three had an ERA over 3.00. They also rated lower than you'd think, analytically, collecting fewer than 5 bWAR in their award-winning seasons. The deserving winners, by bWAR: Larry Jackson in 1959, Dave Stieb in 1983 and Kevin Appier in 1993. Then again, this stuff tends to even out over time. The White Sox have had three pitching bWAR leaders in the Cy Young Award era, and all fell short: Wilbur Wood in 1971, Britt Burns in 1980 and Dylan Cease in 2022. If you're looking for a summer beach read, no matter how many times you've read it, 'Ball Four' always delivers. There's never been a more hilarious, insightful peek into the life of a ballplayer than Jim Bouton's diary of his 1969 season as a reliever for the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros. In the years that followed the book's publication, Bouton, who died six years ago Thursday at age 80, became a celebrity, appearing in movies, working as a sportscaster, writing more books and turning inventions like 'Big League Chew,' with Rob Nelson, into reality. Advertisement Lesser-known, perhaps, is Bouton's sitcom, also called 'Ball Four,' which ran for five episodes on CBS in the fall of 1976. Co-created with TV critic Marvin Kitman and sportswriter Vic Ziegel, Bouton starred as a pitcher for the fictional Washington Americans. 'We wanted 'Ball Four,' the TV show, to be like 'M*A*S*H,' only in a locker room,' he wrote in the 1990 update to his seminal book. 'Instead it turned out more like 'Gilligan's Island.'… We were first in the American League and last in the hearts of our countrymen, according to the Nielsen ratings.' Officially the show ranked 76th in the ratings, and as you can tell from the opening credits, there was little star power in the cast. Bouton auditioned his old Pilots teammate Gene Brabender for the role of 'Rhino,' but it went instead to a retired football player, Ben Davidson. 'Our main problem with the show was a difficulty in conveying reality,' Bouton wrote. 'The CBS censor wouldn't let anybody spit, burp, swear or chew tobacco. Any similarity between the characters in the show and the real ballplayers was purely coincidental.' The credits open with an exterior shot of RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., and an interior shot of Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. A shirtless Bouton chuckles to himself as he writes in a diary, while game footage (from the Vet) mixes with scenes of clubhouse hijinks. And naturally, this being the 1970s, there's a delightfully cheesy theme song: There's a boy in me who comes alive each summer/Won't you come play ball with me? (Top photo of Dave Parker after the 1979 MLB All-Star Game: Associated Press)
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cincinnati Reds celebrate Pete Rose re-instatement
The reinstatement of Pete Rose to Major League Baseball's eligibility list may be controversial in most circles. But in Cincinnati, it was time for celebration. One day after MLB commissioner removed Rose from its permanent ineligibility list, the Cincinnati Reds celebrated their icon before and during the team's game against the Chicago White Sox. The organization held a pre-game moment of silence and students from Rose's high-school alma mater performed the national anthem. Advertisement Reds legends Barry Larkin and Eric Davis, both whom played for Rose when he managed Cincinnati, were joined by Rose's former teammates George Foster and Terry Francona, who currently manages the Reds, all shared stories. "He played baseball with as much passion and competitive enjoyment as you ever could," Francona said. "You wanted to be on his team." The Cincinnati Reds celebrate Pete Rose's re-instatement during a game against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, May 14, 2025Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Rose, a 17-time All-Star, remains the all-time hits leader in MLB history. He was banned from baseball in 1989 after an investigation determined he repeatedly bet on the Reds as both a player and manager. Rose remained a hero in his home town, the same place he played a majority of his career. Advertisement Reds relieve Brent Suter, a native of Cincinnati, as well, recalled hearing stories from his father about Rose. "Never took a play off, always was running hard 90 (feet), sliding headfirst, you know, getting dirty every game," Suter said. This was a guy who just embodied toughness, grit." The re-instatement means Rose is eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Classic Baseball Era committee next meets in 2027 and will determine his status at that time. Rose needs 75% of the votes from the panel's 16 members. Related: Orioles Outfielder Ejected After Animated Reaction to Umpire Call Related: MLB's Best Reliever Makes World Baseball Classic Decision
Boston Globe
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
The Reds paying tribute to Pete Rose a day after he was posthumously reinstated by MLB
'He played baseball with as much passion and competitive enjoyment as you ever could,' said Reds manager Terry Francona, who played with Rose with Montreal and played for him with Cincinnati. 'You wanted to be on his team.' Advertisement Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up An investigation commissioned by Major League Baseball concluded Rose — a 17-time All-Star who finished with 4,256 hits — repeatedly bet on the Reds as a player and manager of the team from 1985-87, a violation of a long-standing MLB rule. Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday he was changing the league's policy on permanent ineligibility, saying bans would expire at death. Pete Rose acknowledges the crowd during ceremonies celebrating the 25th anniversary of Rose breaking Ty Cobb's hit record on Sept. 11, 2010. Al Behrman/Associated Press While Rose's gambling ban made him a baseball pariah, that was never the case in a city that proudly embraces its status as the home of the oldest major league team. He was almost uniformly beloved in his hometown for his all-out playing style and his connection to the Big Red Machine — the dominant Reds teams in the mid-1970s. Advertisement 'My dad used to tell me all the stories of how hard he played every time,' said Reds reliever Brent Suter, a Cincinnati native. 'You know, never took a play off, always was running hard 90 [feet], sliding headfirst, you know, getting dirty every game. . . . This was a guy who just embodied toughness, grit.' Related : There were long lines at several gates as the crowd filed into Great American Ball Park ahead of the pregame ceremony. A steady stream of fans stopped in front of Rose's statue for pictures before going inside the stadium. There was a black tarp with the No. 14 over the pitcher's mound as the players took batting practice. 'I remember his hustle. The headfirst slides. He was a person with not a lot of talent, but he worked so hard,' said Bob Wunder, 65, of Dayton. Wunder expressed his frustration with the timing of Manfred's decision. 'It's awful. They should have done it when he was alive,' he said. 'If I was the [Rose] family, I would say 'Thanks, but no thanks.' I'm upset that it had to wait until he passed away.' The change in Rose's status makes him eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame — long a sore spot for Rose's most ardent supporters — but his Cooperstown induction is far from a given. Related : Advertisement Rose's case would be considered by the Hall's Classic Baseball Era committee, which next meets to consider players in December 2027. A 10-person panel selects eight ballot candidates with the approval of the Hall's board, and the group is considered by 16 members at the winter meetings, with a 75% or higher vote needed. 'I know I oversimplify things. But what Pete did as a player, if he's not in, there is no Hall of Fame,' Francona said. 'But I get it. There are some things that . . . I'm glad I don't have to make [those] decisions.' Jerry Casebolt, 80, of Florence, Ky., stopped to get his photo taken in front of the Rose statue before the game. He said he was at the 1970 All-Star Game when Rose bowled over Ray Fosse in a memorable play at the plate, and he also attended the game when Rose broke Ty Cobb's hits record. Casebolt embraced Manfred's decision to remove Rose from the ineligible list. 'It was great to hear the news,' he said. 'Just opening up the gates [to the Hall of Fame}, but it's still questionable. Hope he gets in. Shame he didn't get to see it.'
The Herald Scotland
14-05-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
MLB Pete Rose decision is 'dark day for baseball' and Hall of Fame
Who knew that once you're dead, all could be forgiven too? Pete Rose, who gambled on baseball as manager of the Cincinnati Reds and lied about it for 15 years before dying September 2024 at the age of 83, had his Hall of Fame chances resurrected by commissioner Rob Manfred. Manfred announced, on the eve of Pete Rose Day in Cincinnati, that he is lifting Rose's permanent ban from baseball, and for the first time will be eligible to be elected into the Hall of Fame. Manfred, while ruling that the permanent ineligibility of players ends upon their death, also cleared everyone from the 1919 Black Sox scandal, who deliberately fixed games during the World Series. "It's a serious dark day for baseball," Marcus Giamatti, the 63-year-old son of late former commissioner Bart Giamatti, who permanently suspended Rose in 1989, told USA TODAY Sports. "For my dad, it was all about defending the integrity of baseball. Now, without integrity, I believe the game of baseball, as we know it, will cease to exist. How, without integrity, will the fans ever entrust the purity of the game. ... "The basic principle that the game is built on, fair play, and that integrity is going to be compromised. And the fans are losers. I don't know how a fan could go and watch a game knowing that what they're seeing may not be real and fair anymore. That's a really scary thought." If Rose, who produced a record 4,256 career hits, winds up in Cooperstown, Giamatti says, what stops Shoeless Joe and anyone else from the Black Sox? Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, come on in. Alex Rodriguez, let's forget about your year-long drug suspension. The 2017 Houston Astros? You had immunity anyway. "If you let him in, the floodgates are now open," Giamatti says. "Sure, why not let all those guys in, too? He hasn't done anything, you know, to reconfigure his life. He was never seriously remorseful or rehabilitated himself by going to gambler's anonymous or any of that stuff. He did none of that. "He could have possibly opened the door for a second chance, but it's moot because he didn't do any of that stuff. So, it's not even a point to discuss." Rose's reinstatement, of course doesn't automatically put him into the Hall of Fame. He still must be elected, even though Donald Trump, who met with Manfred on April 16, believes that it will be fait accompli, saying on X: "Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!'' Rose, who was never on the official BBWAA ballot, can now be nominated by the Hall of Fame's Historical Overview Committee and placed on the 2027 Classic Baseball Era committee ballot. He would need at least 12 votes by the 16-member committee - made up of four former players, four executives, four writers, and four historians - to be elected and inducted in the summer of 2028. WHAT'S NEXT? Pete Rose's MLB ban ends. Does that mean he's bound for the Hall of Fame? "I'd love to be on that committee," said a former All-Star outfielder whose career overlapped with Rose. "I would vote 'no' in a heartbeat and try to convince everyone to do the same. He embarrassed the game. He was a Hall of Famer on the field, but he ruined the integrity of the game off the field." Said a former GM who also is a candidate to be on the committee: "This guy was jeopardizing players' careers to win bets as a manager. He could care less about their health. And now you're going to validate someone like this, someone who's also accused of statutory rape. "You let Pete get away with this, you're opening yourself up to the biggest gambling scandal in baseball history. It makes Rule 21 (prohibiting players, umpires, and other league officials from betting on any baseball game) a complete joke." Manfred, after rejecting Rose's bid to be reinstated while he was alive, became the first commissioner since the suspension to even seriously consider lifting the lifetime ban. Giamatti was the one who suspended Rose. Fay Vincent, who succeeded Giamatti after his sudden death, remained strongly opposed against Rose's ban ever being lifted before he died in February. Bud Selig, who replaced Vincent and was commissioner from 1992-2015, also has continued to voice his strong opposition against Rose's reinstatement. "While it is my preference not to disturb decisions made by prior Commissioners," Manfred said, "Mr. Rose was not placed on the permanently ineligible list by Commissioner action but rather as the result of a 1989 settlement of potential litigation with the Commissioner's Office. My decision today is consistent with Commissioner Giamatti's expectations of that agreement." Manfred argues that the lifetime ban was severe enough punishment and denies being persuaded by Trump to lift the ban, saying that Rose's family visited him in December when he informed them he would reevaluate it. Besides, MLB says, they're not putting Rose into the Hall of Fame. "Commissioner Giamatti's comments were completely reasonable given that, at the time, the Hall of Fame did not have a rule barring people on the permanently ineligible list from Hall of Fame consideration," Manfred said. "In fact, Shoeless Joe Jackson was afforded the opportunity to be voted upon in 1936 and again in 1946." That now falls on the museum, which announced in 1991 that no player permanently banned from baseball is eligible, taking the vote away from the baseball writers. "It's like there's no rules," Giamatti says. "It's like once you die, you can be reinstated and they'll let you back in. There won't be any asterisk or anything. "You're supposed to consider character, sportsmanship and integrity. He doesn't check any of those boxes." Besides Rose's admission to gambling on baseball, he was accused by an unidentified woman in a defamation lawsuit - filed by Rose against former federal prosecutor John Dowd - that he had a sexual relationship with her before she was 16 years old. Rose, married with two children at the time, acknowledged the relationship in court documents made public in 2017, but said she was 16 years old, which was the age of consent. Giamatti, an actor, musician, writer and professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, is particularly galled that no one from MLB bothered to talk to him or his younger brother, Paul Giamatti, the award-winning actor. They don't personally know Rose, but they do know the stress, heartache, and the ensuing death threats, with their father dying of a sudden heart attack at the age of just 51, just eight days after Rose's permanent suspension. "What's frustrating is that nobody has talked to me or my family about it,'' Giamatti said. "I understand that Rose's daughter [Fawn] talked to them, and had every right to. But nobody has reached out to me or my brother to say, "What would be your side of the argument? What are your feelings about this now?' "I don't think they want to talk to me and hear what I have to say, or what we went through as a family with the tremendous amount of pressure, the death threats that the FBI still has, and all of the backlash my dad faced. "It was really an ugly, ugly time. "Now, it's going to be an ugly time for the game, with everything that my father fought to uphold in peril." 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