March 18--Pete Rose isn't the only one who would like to see his lifetime ban from baseball disappear.
Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players' Assn., says it's time for baseball to reinstate Rose.
"I would love to see Pete reinstated," Clark told reporters at the Detroit Tigers' spring training complex in Florida on Tuesday. "He made a decision. He made a decision that was not the right decision. He made a decision that he has paid a price for."
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred reiterated Tuesday he plans to investigate all of the pertinent facts related to Pete Rose and his ban before making a decision on the all-time hit leader's reinstatement request.
Speaking at the Cincinnati Reds' spring training facility, Manfred said he wants to "get up to speed on the Dowd Report" before making a decision.
The Dowd Report was a 225-page report of Rose's infractions prepared by John M. Dowd, special counsel to then-Commissioner Bart Giamatti. Dowd's findings led to Rose being given a lifetime ban from baseball by Giamatti in 1989.
"When you have a request like this, I think it's important, and, in fact, incumbent on me, to understand all that went on," Manfred told MLB.com, "what led Commissioner Giamatti to where he landed on the issue, what the agreement was that was reached and why that agreement was reached. And so I need to really start from square one in terms of those facts."
Cleveland Indians Manager Terry Francona sympathized with the tough decision Manfred would have to make, but expressed hope baseball would once again embrace Rose.
"I hope so much that that gets figured out," Francona said. "I have no ability to not be biased, and I know that. I know, because I'm not the commissioner, it's easy to say something. His decision affects baseball. I spent one year as a teammate and one year [with Rose] as my manager, and I saw how much he cares about the game."
Rose, 73, has applied for reinstatement twice before -- once under Commissioner Fay Vincent's tenure and another time during successor Bud Selig's watch -- but neither application was approved.
