THE PETE ROSE DECISION : HALL OF SHAME : Rose Becomes 15th, and First Since ‘43, to Be Banned From Baseball for Life

Pete Rose became the 15th person to be banned from baseball for life.

The last person to be banned was William D. Cox, then president of the Philadelphia Phillies. Cox , was banned in 1943 for betting on his own team.

Although Rose has been banned for life, he can apply for reinstatement after Aug. 24, 1990. If he does so, and is reinstated, he will become the first to be allowed back.

According to Rich Levin, director of public relations for major league baseball, no one has been reinstated. Levin said he believed that several of the 1919 Chicago White Sox banned for throwing the World Series tried, but all were rejected.

Rose is the third non-player, but the first manager, to be banned. In addition to Cox and Rose, Cozy Dolan, a New York Giant coach, was banned after he and a Giant infielder, Jimmy O’Connell, tried to have a game thrown on Sept. 24, 1924.

In that game, Dolan and O’Connell offered Heinie Sand, the shortstop for the Phillies, $500 to help throw a game. Sand reported the offer to the Phillies’ manager, Art Fletcher, who told the baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Of the 15, all but one, Benjamin Kauff of the New York Giants, were banned in connection with gambling. Kauff was banned by Landis after an indictment on auto-theft charges. Kauff fought the banishment by filing a lawsuit against Landis for reinstatement. The suit was dismissed, and Kauff was not reinstated.

As part of Rose’s settlement reached with Commissioner Bart Giamatti, Rose cannot sue for reinstatement. He must apply through normal baseball rules and procedures.

The eight Black Sox banned in 1919 were Shoeless Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Ed Cicotte, Fred McMullen, Happy Felsch, Lefty Williams, Swede Risberg and Chick Gandel. In 1921, Phillie infielder Gene Paulette was banned for a loan scheme that was related to gambling. Also banned in a separate gambling-related incident was Shuffling Phil Douglas of the New York Giants.

By suspending Rose, Giamatti becomes the second commissioner to ban someone for life. None of the others banned by baseball are alive. Before Landis suspended Cox, no one had been suspended since the early 1920s.

Bowie Kuhn suspended Hall-of-Famers Willie Mays (1979) and Mickey Mantle for their involvement with gambling casinos. Mays and Mantle, who were involved in public relations for Atlantic City, N.J., casinos, were reinstated by Peter Ueberroth shortly after he became commissioner.

Neither Mays nor Mantle had been put on baseball’s ineligible list by Kuhn.