McCombs: Simply acknowledging Rose's reinstatement request a positive step

You had to know this was coming.

The news broke Monday that Pete Rose had applied to Major League Baseball for reinstatement.

That the game's all-time hits leader applied for reinstatement is no surprise. His ability to do so is part of his agreement to a lifetime ban for gambling on baseball in August of 1989.

But what makes this request different from his last attempt is that he might actually get an answer. And that's a step in the right direction.

Rose made the same request in 1997. It took five years for then-commissioner Bud Selig to agree to meet with the hit king, which he did in 2002.

But Selig never gave Rose an answer, not even after Rose came clean in his book "Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars" and admitted he bet on the Reds more than a decade ago.

Indications are, this time, that won't be the case.

Commissioner Rob Manfred, who succeeded Selig in January, said Monday he intended to be in touch with Rose and his representatives to discuss how he'll handle the application from a "process standpoint."

A process standpoint? Unless I'm crazy, that all but confirms there will ACTUALLY BE a process of some sort.

Compared to the Selig doctrine of sitting on the application until anyone who remembers the 1970s is gone, that's progress.

I'll admit, I have mixed feelings about Rose, now 74. I never was a huge fan, despite his accomplishments, simply because I thought he was a jerk.

And I don't know how I feel about total reinstatement. I'm not assuming anyone would hire him, but I'm weary of someone who bet on the game holding a position as a coach or manager or having too much access to players.

But he belongs in the Hall of Fame. That's undeniable.

He's. The. All. Time. Hits. Leader.

How can he not be in the Hall of Fame?

Imagine the Pro Football Hall of Fame without the all-time leader in rushing yards. That's Emmitt Smith, for those that don't know. But prior to Smith, it was Jim Brown.

Try leaving one of those guys out. I know, that's an insane concept.

And don't give me the morals argument. Ty Cobb is in. He was a racist jerk. In fact, most of the players of his era were. Or anti-Semites.

No, at least, reinstatement to the game or not, Rose belongs in Cooperstown.

But that's a problem. In 1991, the Baseball Writers Association of America voted to bar any player on the permanently ineligible list from the Hall of Fame ballot.

They essentially washed their hands of Rose, making sure his fate would always lie with the commissioner.

Selig was happy with the status quo.

This commissioner, it seems, however, may or may not feel that way.

At the very least, he has indicated he'll address Rose's request. There will be a process, possibly a discussion.

"I want to hear what Pete has to say," Manfred told The Associated Press, "and I'll make a decision."

That's progress.

This story was originally published March 18, 2015 at 1:58 AM with the headline "McCombs: Simply acknowledging Rose's reinstatement request a positive step."