Pete Rose, who died in September 2024, at the age of 83, was finally granted eligibility for induction into the Hall of Fame by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in May. Rose was hit with a permanent ban from MLB, including from the Hall of Fame, in 1989 after an investigation found that he had placed bets on baseball games, including games played by his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.
Rose placed the bets at the same time that he was serving as the Reds’ manager, the investigation found.
But in May, Manfred ruled that all “lifetime” bans against MLB players would expire upon the player’s death. That decision made Rose eligible, though if he is eventually inducted — of which there is no guarantee — it will obviously be too late for Rose himself to enjoy it.
And that is exactly what upset former New York Yankees — and Texas Rangers and before that Seattle Mariners — great Alex Rodriguez, a player who, based on his statistics, should be in the Hall of Fame himself.
Rodriguez discussed Rose’s predicament in an interview on New York City’s WFAN radio last week, and made a startling claim about baseball’s all-time hits leader.
“Pete Rose, a great friend of mine,” Rodriguez said in the radio interview. “It just breaks my heart that he’s gonna get in now. But I actually feel that if he would have gotten in, he would have lived another five years.”
Listen to the full interview with Alex Rodriguez: https://t.co/s5z38KMGMz
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) June 20, 2025
Is that true? Would Rose have lived to age 88 had he been inducted into the Hall of Fame?
Of course, there’s no way to know. The expected lifespan of an American male born in 1941, as Rose was, is 71 years according to the United States Social Security Administration. That means Rose had already lived 12 years longer than the typical man of his generation when he passed away last year.
He would have been eligible for the honor, had he not received the lifetime ban, based on his record 4,256 base hits alone, starting in 1991.
Rodriguez’s strange claim may have been motivated by his own struggles with the Hall of Fame. A member of the Yankees 2009 World Series championship team — still the most recent of the Bronx Bombers’ 27 titles — and a winner of two MVP awards while in a Yankees uniform (plus a third while on the Rangers), Rodriguez ranks fifth on the all-time home run list with 696.
More MLB: Pete Rose Hall of Fame Bid Gets Support From John Rocker, Disgraced Ex-Pitcher
His career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) of 117.4 ranks 12th, just behind Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams.
However, Rodriguez was suspended for the 2014 season after he admitted using performance enhancing drugs for several years during his playing career.
Unlike Rose, however, Rodriguez has not received a lifetime ban and has indeed been eligible for Hall of Fame induction since 2021. But voters simply cannot get past his admitted PED use.
He would need 75 percent of all votes to get in, and so far he has never received more than 37.1 percent, which was his share in 2025.
More MLB: Two-Time All-Star Goes on Rant Against MLB Decision on Pete Rose in Hall of Fame
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