Pete Rose still not going into Hall of Fame. His MLB ban was permanent not 'lifetime'

Pete Rose still isn't going into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

While the career hits leader's banishment from baseball 35 years ago was often referred to as a lifetime ban, and his death this week led some to believe that would end, Rose agreed to permanent ineligibility from Major League Baseball following a probe of his betting on the game.

Anyone on the permanently ineligible list can't be considered for election to the Hall under a rule adopted by the Hall's board of directors in 1991. Rose's status didn't change when he died Monday at age 83 of natural causes in Las Vegas.

That certainly won't stop the debate about whether the 17-time All-Star with 4,256 hits deserves inclusion, or to now be posthumously inducted.

“The GREAT Pete Rose just died. He was one of the most magnificent baseball players ever to play the game. He paid the price! Major League Baseball should have allowed him into the Hall of Fame many years ago,” former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, repeating a similar plea he made four years earlier. “Do it now, before his funeral!”

The Hall of Fame's board adopted the rule 1 1/2 years after Rose agreed to the ban, and the same year that he would have become eligible to be on the ballot for the first time.

“It was obviously aimed at Pete Rose, and from that day forward and to today, my position, the position of millions of others is, yeah, we get it, he broke the cardinal rule. He should be banned from baseball under that rule for life,” longtime broadcaster Bob Costas said Tuesday on ESPN's “Get Up!” morning show. “But somebody got those 4,256 base hits and those three batting championships. Put him in the Hall of Fame, put it at the bottom of his plaque ‘banned from baseball 1989, for life’. It’s part of the record, but he should be in as a player.”

Baseball’s longstanding Rule 21 about misconduct, which is prominently displayed in every MLB clubhouse, states any player, umpire, or club or league official or employee who bets "upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible."

An investigation for MLB by lawyer John M. Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team. Rose applied for reinstatement in 1997 and met with Commissioner Bud Selig in November 2002, but Selig never ruled on Rose’s request.

Current MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2015 denied Rose's application for reinstatement, concluding Rose continued to gamble and would be a risk to the sport’s integrity if allowed back in the game.

“Pete Rose violated what is sort of rule one in baseball, and the consequences of that are clear in the rule, and we’ve continued to abide by our own rules,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers' Association of America in 2023. "It’s just the rules are different for players. It’s part of the responsibility that comes with the privilege of being a major league player.”

Manfred plans to retire when his current term ends in January 2029, so it is possible the next commissioner could reconsider Rose's ban.

At the time the ban agreement was announced, then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti said: “The burden is entirely on Mr. Rose to reconfigure his life in a way he deems appropriate.”

Rose repeatedly denied betting on baseball until making an admission in his 2004 autobiography, “Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars.”

“The ultimate tragedy is the one that he experienced, because he had all sorts of blessings and advantages and talents, and to end up living a life for the past 35 years that was so frustrating and abysmal must have been a terrible sentence for him,” former Commissioner Fay Vincent told The Associated Press this week.

“At the end, how can you not feel very sorry for a guy who suffered from sort of a human failing, which is an excessive belief in his infallibility, and he kept testing that. .... Kept being punished, and he never got a lesson," he said. "The lesson was stop doing what you’re doing.”

Rose directly appealed to the Hall in 2016 to restore his eligibility, arguing the lifetime ban he agreed to was never intended to keep him from Cooperstown.

Even though the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, 1973 MVP and 1975 World Series MVP isn't in the Hall of Fame, Rose's accomplishments are found all over Cooperstown. The museum has the bats from his 3,000th and 4,000th hits, and the helmet he wore when he topped Ty Cobb's mark of 4,191 hits on Sept. 11, 1985. There is also a Montreal Expos cap Rose wore in 1984, when he set the record for games played — he finished with 3,562 in 24 seasons.

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Jodi and Landon Funky, 17, right, both of Independence Ky., visit the statue of Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in front of Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)

FILE - Montreal Expos Pete Rose celebrates his 4,000th career hit with teammates against the Philadelphia Phillies at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on April 13, 1984. (Ron Poling/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds in action at the bat against the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, Aug. 2, 1978. At left is Atlanta catcher Joe Nolan. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Former Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose waves to fans after being introduced during the Reds Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, July 15, 2023, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

Pete Rose still not going into Hall of Fame. His MLB ban was permanent not 'lifetime'

Pete Rose still not going into Hall of Fame. His MLB ban was permanent not 'lifetime'

Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel caused few casualties and little damage, but it marked a further escalation of tensions in the Middle East as Israeli forces battle Tehran's militant allies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran.

At the heart of the recent escalation is the the nearly yearlong war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Palestinian officials say Israel launched air and ground operations in the territory's southern city of Khan Younis early Wednesday, killing more than 50 people.

Israeli forces are meanwhile carrying out what they say are limited ground incursions into southern Lebanon. Hezbollah said Wednesday that its fighters had battled troops near the border, and the Israeli military announced that eight of its soldiers, including at least one commando, had been killed in the fighting.

Here's what to know:

Iran's decision to launch some 180 missiles at Israel came after its militant allies, known as the Axis of Resistance, suffered a series of major blows in recent weeks.

Israeli airstrikes killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders in quick succession, indicating that Israeli intelligence has thoroughly penetrated the group. Israel has also bombed what it says are militant targets across large parts of Lebanon, killing over 1,000 people, a quarter of whom are women and children, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Iran said the missile attack was in response to the targeted killing of Nasrallah, an Iranian general killed alongside him and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who was killed in an explosion in Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel.

Iran may have felt it had to respond to avoid being seen as hanging its allies out to dry. It also appears to be trying to reestablish deterrence after the unspoken rules of its long-running shadow war with Israel have crumbled.

Iranian state media said several types of ballistic missiles were used in the attack, including the Emad and Ghadr, as well as Iran’s new Fattah missile.

Officials last year claimed the Fattah, or “Conqueror” in Farsi, traveled as fast as 15 times the speed of sound with a range of up to 1,400 kilometers (870 miles).

Missile experts who analyzed footage of remains of missiles recovered after the attack suggested the Fattah had been used. Questions remain over how maneuverable the missile is as it comes back into the atmosphere. The more irregular the missile’s flight path, the more difficult it becomes to intercept.

The Israeli military said it intercepted many of the incoming Iranian missiles using its multitiered air defense system, though some landed in central and southern Israel and two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel. One of the missiles killed a Palestinian worker from Gaza who had been stranded in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the war.

Israel has a range of options in responding to the attack, spanning from a largely symbolic strike, like one it apparently carried out in April, to a broader air campaign targeting Iran's infrastructure or even its controversial nuclear program.

Yoav Limor, a military correspondent for the Israel Today newspaper, said the failure of the Iranian attack to cause major casualties or damage gives Israel time to consider its response.

“Israel can stick to the eye-for-an-eye equation (as it did in April) and only hit military targets," he wrote.

"It can also attack infrastructure targets that will hurt the Iranian regime and the Iranian economy, such as oil, gas and petrochemical facilities, in the hope that the ensuing crisis in Iran will also provoke public anger against the regime.”

Israel's response may depend on how far the United States is willing to escalate and whether American forces will take part.

But the Biden administration might be wary of an all-out war that could draw in American forces stationed in the region and Arab allies, and which could send oil prices soaring weeks before the U.S. presidential election.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called Iran’s attack a “significant escalation.” President Joe Biden said he’s discussing possible responses with aides, but would not support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

Hezbollah said Wednesday that its fighters clashed with Israeli troops near the border. That would mark the first ground combat since the start of the incursion.

The Israeli military said ground forces backed by airstrikes had killed militants in “close-range engagements” without saying where.

Israel said Tuesday that it had launched limited ground incursions into Lebanon to locate and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, but there are signs that a wider offensive is planned.

It said eight Israeli soldiers had been killed in the fighting, with seven killed in two separate attacks. Earlier, Israel earlier announced that a 22-year-old captain in a commando brigade had been killed. It gave few other details.

Israel has moved thousands of troops, tanks and artillery to the border in recent days, and it has warned residents to evacuate around 50 villages and towns in a U.N.-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon, telling them to relocate to more than 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of the border. Thousands of Syrians and Lebanese have been streaming into Syria to escape the airstrikes.

In its first confirmation of the incursion, the Lebanese army said Israeli forces had advanced some 400 meters (yards) across the border but withdrew “after a short period.”

The sides have continued to trade strikes in recent days, with Israeli warplanes hitting Beirut and artillery firing at targets along the border. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets, missiles and drones into Israel since last October, when it began attacking Israel in support of the Palestinians and its Hamas allies in Gaza.

Palestinians say Israel launched a large air and ground operation overnight in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing more than 50 people, including women and children, according to health officials. Separate strikes in Gaza killed around two dozen Palestinians.

Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets in Gaza even as attention has shifted to Lebanon and Iran. Israeli forces carried out a major operation in Khan Younis earlier this year that destroyed large areas of the city, and its forces have returned to several parts of Gaza as militants have regrouped.

The regional escalation began with Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, when Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Some 100 have not yet been released, around 65 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas' military wing, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for a Tuesday mass shooting in Tel Aviv that killed seven people. The two attackers were shot by security guards and armed passersby.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. They do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The air and ground campaign has devastated wide areas of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

Diplomatic efforts have stalled and there is no end to the war in sight.

Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press reporters Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Israelis wait to re-board their bus after projectiles were launched from Iran are being intercepted in the skies over in Rosh HaAyin, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Israelis take cover as projectiles launched from Iran are being intercepted in the skies over in Rosh HaAyin, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

A woman holds her cat in front of a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke envelops the area near destroyed buildings at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell from northern Israel towards Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

An Israeli soldier covered in a prayer shawl prays at a mobile artillery position in northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Projectiles fly through the sky in central Israel as a siren sounds a warning of incoming missiles fired from Iran towards Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A cleric clenches his fist as he celebrates Iran's missile strike against Israel in an anti-Israeli gathering at Felestin (Palestine) Sq. in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People take cover on the side of a road as a siren sounds a warning of incoming missiles fired from Iran on a freeway in Shoresh, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

People take cover on the side of the road as a siren sounds a warning of incoming missiles fired from Iran on a freeway in Shoresh, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli army tanks manoeuvre in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A damaged building is seen at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israeli army tanks manoeuvre in a staging area in northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)