CINCINNATI — After Major League Baseball lifted its ban on Pete Rose, his family's attorney is now focusing on getting the all-time hits leader into Cooperstown.
Jeffrey Lenkov, who has been working on Rose's reinstatement for years, says it has been a chaotic couple of days since he informed Rose's children that the ban would be lifted.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday that Rose was among multiple deceased players, including "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, removed from the permanently ineligible list.
Rose, a Cincinnati native who became baseball's Hit King, died in October 2024. Before his death, he applied multiple times for reinstatement, but Manfred rejected them. The MLB said Manfred made the decision to reinstate him in response to a petition from Rose's family.
WATCH: What Lenkov had to say about Rose's Hall of Fame chance
Now, Lenkov said he's focusing his efforts on getting Rose into the Hall of Fame. Lenkov told me that not being in the Hall before his death meant Rose died with a broken heart. He's hoping that can be fixed for Rose's family.
"I'm never going to give up. Ever. So whatever it took to get the reinstatement, I'm going to continue until there's no other options on him on the Hall," Lenkov said.
Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement the Historical Overview Committee "will develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee — which evaluates candidates who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1980 — to vote on when it meets next in December 2027."
Lenkov has been providing all his legal work on this matter pro bono.
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