FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 5, 2020

Media contact:
Mark Rosenbaum, 213-500-7906, mrosenbaum@law.uci.edu
Erwin Chemerinsky, 323-356-7379, echemerinsky@law.berkeley.edu
Evan Caminker, 734-355-4030, caminker@umich.edu
Ray Genco, 561-614-4256, ray@gencolaw.com

PETE ROSE FILES PETITION FOR REINSTATEMENT TO MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Pete Rose files new Petition For Reinstatement to Major League Baseball with the
Commissioner of Baseball, Robert Manfred; Petition argues that Pete Rose’s 31-year
punishment for an act that never impacted the outcome of a single game is no longer
justifiable as a proportional response to his transgressions in light of recent Major League
Baseball disciplinary decisions

Today, representatives for Pete Rose submitted a Petition for Reinstatement to the Office of
the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, with an addendum directed to the President of
the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mr. Rose requests to be reinstated to the game of
baseball and considered for election to the Hall of Fame after 31 years on the permanently
ineligible list.

The petition argues that Pete Rose’s ongoing punishment for an act that never impacted a
single play or game outcome is no longer justifiable as a proportional response to his
transgressions. Relative to the discipline imposed by Major League Baseball for recent
egregious assaults on the integrity of the game, Pete Rose continues to suffer a
disproportionate penalty, and he should be reinstated to the game of baseball.

In particular, the petition explores the recent discipline imposed by Major League Baseball
on the Astros for their electronic sign-stealing scheme and the discipline implemented in
the wake of the steroids era, finding that no players involved in those scandals have
received a remotely comparable punishment to the 31-year ban suffered by Mr. Rose.

Mark Rosenbaum, a civil rights lawyer who submitted the petition on behalf of Mr. Rose,
said, “Pete doesn’t seek special treatment, but equal treatment to others who have violated
the integrity of the game. Unlike those known and unknown management and players who
used and countenanced the use of steroids and engaged in electronic sign stealing, Pete’s
transgressions did not affect the outcome of any game, let alone the World Series, or player
performance. And unlike Pete, those violators will not be banished from baseball for thirty
years and counting. At stake here then is not just proportional treatment for Pete, but the
credibility and stature of the game for all time.”

According to Dean of UC Berkeley Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, who helped author the
petition, “it is essential to baseball, and to any fair system, that punishment be
proportionate to the offense and to that imposed on others. Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from
baseball and from the Hall of Fame, for actions that never affected the outcome of a single
game, is grossly disproportionate when compared to the one-year suspensions imposed on
those whose misconduct likely did change the results in games. After 30 years of being
banished from baseball, it is time for Pete Rose to be reinstated.”

Evan Caminker, former Dean and current Law Professor at University of Michigan Law
School, added, “basic fairness requires both that punishment must fit the crime, and that
punishment must be doled out proportionally so that people who engage in similarly
severe misconduct receive similar punishments. Given the significantly lighter-to-
nonexistent penalties imposed on more recent wrongdoers in the steroids, sign-stealing,
and other scandals, Rose's lifetime ban has become disproportionate and therefore no
longer fair."

The portion of the petition addressing Pete Rose’s Hall of Fame eligibility specifically asks
the President of the Hall of Fame to give voters the opportunity to fairly consider Mr. Rose
for baseball’s highest honor alongside his peers, a question that Commissioner Manfred has
previously stated is outside his authority and in the purview of leaders of the Hall of Fame.
Pete Rose is currently the only living former player ineligible for the Hall, which subjects
him to a penalty that no other players accused of equally serious rules violations must
endure.

On the matter of Pete Rose’s eligibility for the Hall, Rose's attorney, Ray Genco, stated, “I
agree with Giamatti. At the press conference, Commissioner Giamatti told the world that it
was his intent and expectation for the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA)
to vote on Rose for the Hall, up or down. Two years later, the Hall changed its election rules,
undermining the BBWAA's authority. Given that the BBWAA voters are the gatekeepers to
the Hall for every other baseball player and manager the game has ever seen, including
those implicated in the steroid era and those implicated in electronic sign-stealing scandals,
it is now time for the voters to be allowed to decide the Pete Rose/Hall of Fame debate. Let
the voters vote.”