Marty Brennaman, the Cincinnati Reds’ longtime voice, is pleased that Pete Rose is now eligible for the Hall of Fame. He’s not happy with the timing.
Brennaman, who called the Reds from 1974 until his retirement in 2019, spoke with TMZ Sports following the announcement that Rose was one of 17 people, all of whom are now deceased, to be reinstated by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
According to Brennaman, Rose had already been sufficiently punished for betting on baseball, and he believed Rose, who died in September, should have been reinstated while alive.
“I’m just trying to reconcile in my own mind why they waited as long as they did,” Brennaman explained during the interview. “And then, within a few months of Pete’s death in September, they come out and announce in grand style that they have lifted the suspension and made him and ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson — there may be others I’m not even aware of — eligible for consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I just felt like he had spent far more time in jail than he should have. And the fact that they rushed to make him eligible in a matter of months struck me as the wrong way to conduct business.”
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo largely agreed, accusing MLB of profiting from Rose while keeping him out of the sport and, as a result, the Hall of Fame.
Despite his own dissatisfaction with the timing, Brennaman noted that Rose had long stated that his reinstatement would not occur during his lifetime.
He also mentioned that, while Rose would have preferred to see his enshrinement, he would have been content knowing that, if it ever happened, his family would be present to witness it.
“He had come to grips with the fact that it was not going to happen until after he passed away,” she said. “He said this to several different people.
He obviously wanted it to happen so he could enjoy it. At the same time, he stated that being in the Hall of Fame is more for his family than anyone else.
So he was obviously thinking about his children and enhancing his legacy, which has, at times, been very, very tarnished, as we all know. Pete was also involved in a number of activities that he had initiated.
Nobody could ever dispute that, and Pete would never have done it again after admitting to betting on baseball.
“But I think at the end of the day, if the best that he could get would be to go for his family, probably would be satisfying for him right now.”
