The Cincinnati Reds are paying tribute to Pete Rose on Wednesday night, a day after baseball’s career hits leader was posthumously removed from the major leagues’ permanent ineligibility list.
The Reds are handing out a replica No. 14 Rose jersey to fans in attendance for their game against the Chicago White Sox. They are holding a pregame panel with former Rose teammates George Foster and Ken Griffey Sr., along with Barry Larkin and Eric Davis — who played for Rose when he managed the Reds.
Members of Rose’s family are slated to deliver the game ball and serve as honorary captains.
Rose, who died in September at age 83, played for the Reds in 19 of his 24 seasons, winning two of his three World Series championships with his hometown team. His career was tarnished by a gambling scandal that led to a permanent ban on Aug. 23, 1989.
[Related: Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson removed from MLB’s banned list]
An investigation commissioned by Major League Baseball concluded Rose — a 17-time All-Star who finished with 4,256 hits — repeatedly bet on the Reds as a player and manager of the team from 1985-87, a violation of a long-standing MLB rule.
Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday he was changing the league’s policy on permanent ineligibility, saying bans would expire at death.
While Rose’s gambling ban made him a baseball pariah, that was never the case in a city that proudly embraces its status as the home of the oldest major league team. He was almost uniformly beloved in his native Cincinnati for his all-out playing style and his connection to the Big Red Machine — the dominant Reds teams in the mid-1970s.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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