Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings March 17, 2015 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1978-The Reds are the first to don green uniforms for a St. Patrick’s Day exhibition. The Reds even order green catching gear for the occasion. CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Even if reinstated, Pete Rose's Hall future uncertain By C. Trent Rosecrans / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @ctrent Even if Pete Rose is reinstated to baseball, that would not guarantee him an easy road to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. On Monday, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Rose had formally applied to have his lifetime ban lifted. Manfred said he would "deal with" Rose's request. Rose, who has been banned from the game since 1989, was ruled ineligible for the Hall in 1991, when the organization voted to ban players on baseball's permanently ineligible list. If reinstated, Rose would have to be elected to the Hall by Expansion Era Committee, according to Hall of Fame spokesman Brad Horn. "Rose would be an eligible candidate for Hall of Fame consideration based on if he were to be reinstated by Major League Baseball," Horn wrote to the Enquirer in an email on Monday. "Should Rose be moved off Baseball's Ineligible list, his candidacy would fall to the Expansion Era Committee (which next votes next winter – 2016 for Induction in 2017), based on the rules for election. Only candidates who last appeared in a major league game within a 15-year window can be considered by the BBWAA."' Rose's induction into the Hall of Fame would rest on a 16-member committee that meets at baseball's annual Winter Meetings, needing the same 75 percent standard that is required by the constituency of the members of the BBWAA who have earned voting privileges by being active members of the organization for 10 years. While the writers' ballots are cast individually and mailed to the Hall, the Era Committees meet on a rotating basis each December and spend a day-and-a-half discussing the candidates. That may not help Rose, said Sports Illustrated's Jay Jaffe, a preeminent Hall of Fame scholar. "His case, however, is going to be about more than just numbers, and no matter what its form, the Veterans Committee is a very difficult place to marshal a 75 percent consensus, so difficult that they've elected no living player since Bill Mazeroski in 2001 — and none of the candidates to come before them since then had a two-decade suspension for the game's (supposedly) most unpardonable sin," Jaffe wrote in an email on Monday. "There might be a faction of former players on the Expansion Era Committee who are sympathetic to his cause, but I'm skeptical that it would be enough to carry the day on the 2017 ballot." The Era Committees replaced the Veteran's Committee in 2010, separating the Hall of Fame candidates into three different eras, the Expansion Era (1973-present), the Golden Era (1947-1973) and the Pre-Integration Era (1871-1946). Individual Era Committees meet on a triennial basis, and the ballot up for debate in any given year is determined by an Historical Overview Committee, a group selected by the BBWAA. Last year, the Golden Era Committee was comprised of eight Hall of Fame members (Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, Pat Gillick, Ferguson Jenkins, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan, Ozzie Smith and Don Sutton), four major league executives (Dave Dombrowski, Jim Frey, David Glass and Roland Hemond) and four media members (Steve Hirdt, Dick Kaegel, Phil Pepe and Tracy Ringolsby). Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board Jane Forbes Clark served as the non-voting chairman of the Golden Era Committee. No one was elected in December, with Dick Allen and Tony Olivia each falling one vote short. Former Reds general manager Bob Howsam had three or fewer votes, according to the official release in December. The committee keeps its voting confidential. "The reason nobody got in the last time wasn't that anyone was trying to keep anyone out, it was just a deep pool," said Ringolsby, who served on the committee for the first time last winter. Ringolsby said he doesn't know what to expect if Rose were to be on the Expansion Era Committee ballot. "I really don't know, because there are a lot of people who say they believe he shouldn't be in and people who believe he should, but nobody's had to make that decision yet," Ringolsby said. "My own feelings are, if a person is cleared to be on the Hall of Fame ballot, I can't be the judge of morality. I'm not saying that to endorse Pete Rose. My opinion has always been that if a person is cleared to be on the ballot, it's my job to evaluate that person's career. I don't have a problem voting for Roger Clemens, or voting for Barry Bonds or any of those players. My feeling is that if they're included on the ballot, it is a tacit endorsement that they're eligible to be in the Hall of Fame." Not all the writers have come to the same conclusion on Bonds or Clemens, so it would seem the 16-member Expansion Era Committee would have just as much trouble coming to a consensus on the game's all-time hits leader. "There are going to be some interesting discussions," Ringolsby said. Reds' bats come alive in 10-4 win over the Giants By John Fay / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @Johnfayman GOODYEAR, Ariz. — After scoring a total of four runs over the last three games, the Reds got their offense going with power in a 10-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Brennan Boesch, Jay Bruce, Skip Schumaker and Chris Dominguez each hit home runs. The arms: The Reds extended their streak of hitless innings to 9 2/3 before Paul Maholm allowed a two-run homer to Joaquin Arias in the fifth. Raisel Iglesias started and went 2 2/3 no-hit innings. He walked one and struck out two. Sam LeCure pitched two scoreless innings. The bats: Boesch hit his third home run of the spring, a team-high. Bruce hit his second homer of the spring, and Schumaker hit his first. Both were two-run shots. Dominguez' was a solo shot. The rest: Kristopher Negron made a great play at third: He stopped a hard shot down the line with a dive, got up and threw Adam Duvall out. Negron was caught stealing. The Reds are 3-for-11 on stolen base attempts. Up next: The Reds play the Cleveland Indians in a road game at Goodyear Ballpark. Right-hander Mike Leake (1-0, 0.00) faces Indian ace Corey Kluber in a 4:05 p.m. game. The game is on Fox Sports Ohio and WSAI (1360-AM). Aroldis Chapman, Burke Badenhop and Tony Cingrani are scheduled to follow Leake. Lifting Pete Rose ban: What it means and doesn't By C. Trent Rosecrans / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @ctrent GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Pete Rose's fate now officially lies in the hands Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. Manfred, who took over the job in January, has received Pete Rose's request for reinstatement, he said on Monday. "I do have a formal request from Pete," Manfred said Monday as he visited the Los Angeles Dodgers during a tour of spring training camps. "I'll be in communication with his representatives about how we're going to handle that request." If Rose's lifetime ban were to be lifted, it hardly guarantees a clear path to the Hall of Fame. But it would open the door for the all- time hits leader to play a much greater role with the Reds organization. A video from February of Manfred talking about Rose: Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday that he knows he will ultimately have to make a decision on Pete Rose's ban from baseball, but it will be a private matter. Manfred wanted to be clear that at this point, Rose's request is nothing more than that. "I don't think people should read any predisposition into what I'm saying," Manfred said. "I see it as simply he's made a request. Part of my obligation under the major league constitution is to deal with those requests. I don't have any predisposition." If not, Manfred is alone. Rose is baseball's third rail — a topic so toxic nobody wants to take it on, lest they offend the wrong people. On Monday, the Reds — and owner Bob Castellini — declined comment on the fact that Manfred had gotten Rose's reinstatement. Major League Baseball's officials would only confirm that Manfred did indeed make the statement — nothing more, nothing less. According to the Associated Press, Rose's lawyer, Ray Genco, said he and his client were declining comment other than to confirm the application had been submitted. Manfred told writers he would talk to Rose, but hasn't yet. "But I don't want to get into a public back-and-forth," Manfred said. "I owe it to him to deal privately." The team itself has done the same. The Reds Hall of Fame, which had many starts and stops across its 57 years in existence, follows the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's guidelines when inducting players, not allowing players on baseball's permanently ineligible list to be inducted. So not only has Pete Rose not been inducted into Cooperstown, he's also not in the Hall of Fame on Joe Nuxhall Way.