Rose appeals to HOF for eligibility
Pete Rose is appealing directly to baseball’s Hall of Fame to restore his eligibility, arguing the lifetime ban he agreed to in 1989 was never intended to keep him out of Cooperstown.
A seven- page letter to Hall president Jeff Idelson makes the case that the settlement agreement reached by Rose and then- Commissioner Bart Giamatti didn’t include a provision that he be ineligible for election to the Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame changed its bylaws two years after Rose’s banishment to make permanently banned players ineligible for the Hall, which shut out the career hits leader as long as he remained barred from baseball.
Genco is asking the Hall to amend that bylaw specifically to allow Rose to be eligible for baseball writers to elect at their discretion. He makes the point that the banishments of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays for their association with casinos didn’t affect their Hall status, and even Shoeless Joe Jackson had remained eligible after he was banned from the game for accepting money to throw the 1919 World Series.
Adam Duvall’s two- run single lifted the Cincinnati Reds past the host St. Louis Cardinals 2- 1. The Cardinals remained one game behind the San Francisco Giants for the NL’s second wild card spot.
Jay Bruce hit his 32nd home run, James Loney also homered and the Mets helped their NL wild- card chances by beating host Miami 5- 2. The Mets opened a 1 ½ - game lead over the Giants for the NL’s top wild card spot.
Mark Teixeira hit a game- winning grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning, and the New York Yankees staved off playoff elimination at the last possible moment with a 5- 3 victory over the visiting Boston Red Sox. Boston clinched the AL East title nearly 30 minutes before Teixeira connected, thanks to Toronto’s 3- 2 loss against Baltimore.
Miguel Cabrera hit a tiebreaking three- run homer in the fifth inning, moments before the game was halted for good, and Detroit came away with a rain- shortened 6- 3 victory over visiting Cleveland to keep pace with Baltimore in the AL wild- card race.