One of MLB’s most divisive issues, seemingly settled for nearly two generations, is now reopening as the league is once again reviewing the permanent ban of disgraced hit king Pete Rose. 

Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering a petition by Rose’s family to have him posthumously removed from baseball’s ineligible list, according to industry sources and multiple reports. The new look at the case of the late Rose follows many years of both Manfred and his predecessor, Bud Selig, refusing to take him off of that list following his betting on Reds in the 1980s while player-manager of that team and then, in Manfred’s words, failing to “present credible evidence of a reconfigured life.”

The revisiting of the situation, however, owes to several key events:

• Topping that list, of course, is Rose’s death last September at the age of 83. Manfred has held some sentiment that placement on the ineligible list is a penalty that ends with the individual’s death. When last reviewing Rose’s case in 2015, Manfred said “my only concern has to be the protection of the integrity of play on the field through appropriate enforcement of the Major League rule.” John Thorn, MLB’s official historian, has made similar arguments that this type of penalty ends with death. 
• Following Rose’s death, his family and his lawyer, Jeffrey Lenkov, filed a new reinstatement petition, seeking to have Rose in a position to be elected by the Baseball Hall of Fame. 
• U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post over the weekend that he intends to posthumously pardon Rose. It was not clear for what specifically he would be pardoned, but Rose served five months in prison in the early 1990s for tax evasion. Rose also previously faced allegations of committing statutory rape. Those allegations never produced criminal charges, but an ultimately dismissed civil suit included a sworn affidavit from a woman who said Rose had a sexual relationship with her in the 1970s while she was below the age of consent. Trump has frequently made sports a topic of his attention, weighing in on numerous areas, including the proposed LIV Golf-PGA Tour merger and transgender athletes’ access to competition. 

Hall of Fame Case

Soon after Rose’s placement on the ineligible list in 1989, the Hall of Fame codified a policy to not consider anybody on that list for induction, and that rule exists to this day. The Hall of Fame’s board of directors, while including Manfred and several MLB team owners, remains a separate organization with its own governance and bylaws. 

As a result, any move by Manfred and MLB to reinstate Rose would not necessarily mean Rose could, or would, get elected to the Hall of Fame.

If the reinstatement happens, though, it would also reopen one of the sport’s deepest scars, and could represent a defining moment in the final chapter of Manfred’s tenure as commissioner. 

On the field, Rose’s case for enshrinement is an easy one, as he is the league’s all-time hit leader, a three-time World Series winner, and a three-time batting champion who earned the “Charlie Hustle” nickname through his trademark grit. Rose, however, also committed baseball’s cardinal sin, by multiple accounts never fully accounted for or atoned for his behavior, and in his post-baseball life was never far from gambling. 

The NHL went into its final outdoor game of the 2024-2025 season with historic expectations and still cleared them with room to spare.

The league drew a massive crowd of 94,751 on Saturday for the Stadium Series game between the Red Wings and Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, normally home of Ohio State football. The figure, as expected, now stands as the second-largest attendance in NHL history, trailing only the 2014 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, which drew 105,491. 

Beyond raw numbers, though, the event was rife with competitive fire and emotion. The game, won 5-3 by the Blue Jackets, completed a two-game, home-and-home sweep over the Red Wings and solidified the team’s standing as the top wild card in the Eastern Conference. Columbus is seeking to break a five-year playoff drought while Detroit, right behind the Blue Jackets in the standings, is looking to end its own nine-year stretch out of the playoffs.

Throughout the evening, the league and the Blue Jackets also paid tribute to forward Johnny Gaudreau, who was killed last summer, along with his brother, after being struck by an alleged drunk driver. Among the many commemorations was a giant uniform No. 13 banner in Gaudreau’s honor being passed around the stadium by fans. 

The famed Ohio State marching band even made its iconic script “Ohio” on the ice, extending the festive yet poignant tone for the day. 

“I understand now why the football players want to go out and rip people’s heads off,” said an emotional Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason of the Ohio Stadium atmosphere. “My God, you’re just jacked. But to have the presence of Johnny with us in that setting, all your emotions, like you want to cry, fight. You want to get after it, right?”

National Spotlight

The Stadium Series event also gave Columbus a big and rather rare dose in the national spotlight—as well an international one given the game was broadcast in 191 countries. A quarter-century into the Blue Jackets’ existence, the franchise is still fighting for recognition to some degree, having reached the playoffs just six times and never advancing to the conference finals. 

Saturday’s event was also the first outdoor game in franchise history, and was also the latest in a resurgent wave for the NHL in recent weeks that includes the hugely successful 4 Nations Face-Off and the Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin and his GR8 Chase.

NFL wide receiver Deebo Samuel is not necessarily the same player he once was, and is now nearly four years removed from his All-Pro season in 2021. His weekend trade from the 49ers to the Commanders, however, still presents a clear signal as to the immediate direction and financial state of both franchises. 

San Francisco dealt the 29-year-old Samuel for a 2025 fifth-round draft pick, according to multiple reports, with the 49ers honoring a trade demand he made prior to Super Bowl LIX. 

The trade will see the Commanders adding another offensive weapon after enjoying an unexpected renaissance in the 2024 season that included a trip to the NFC championship game. Washington will assume all of Samuel’s $17.55 million salary for the 2025 season—and has plenty of room to do so, with the NFL’s third-largest total of available cap space at nearly $84 million. Without a contract extension, however, the trade could essentially be a one-year rental. 

The 49ers, meanwhile, will be retrenching after a 6-11 season last year that was the team’s worst since 2018. San Francisco will assume a $31.55 million dead cap hit as a result of the deal and a prior restructuring of Samuel’s contract. The move will also likely help free up cash as the 49ers seek a contract extension with quarterback Brock Purdy that could pay more than $50 million per year. 

Samuel will also reunite with Adam Peters, now Commanders GM and formerly the 49ers’ assistant GM. Peters was part of the leadership team in San Francisco that drafted Samuel in 2019. A key part of Samuel’s on-field skill is his ability as both a runner and receiver, and while in San Francisco, he lined up in a wide variety of formations. His time with the 49ers, however, was often tumultuous, and he had a prior contract dispute with the team after his breakthrough 2021 season. 

The trade is due to become official on March 12, the first day of the 2025 NFL league year. Samuel, however, made a somewhat more terse version of a typical pro athlete goodbye message, posting a highlight reel on Instagram with the simple message, “Appreciate y’all for everything!!!!!”

The Commanders, meanwhile, made a veiled reference to the deal, posting a clip of the Deebo character from Friday.