Pete Rose meets with MLB commissioner; reinstatement decision by end of year

Pete Rose met with baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday in New York and was told Manfred would decide on his request for reinstatement before the end of 2015.

Numerous sources have told Outside the Lines they do not expect Manfred to reinstate Rose, who agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation by MLB concluded he bet on games involving his Cincinnati Reds team while managing and playing.

Rose applied for reinstatement in September 1997 and met with then-commissioner Bud Selig in November 2002, but Selig never ruled on Rose’s application.

John Dowd, the former federal prosecutor who led the investigation that resulted in MLB’s banning of Rose, on Friday told ESPN’s William Weinbaum: “I’m glad they met, and I have no doubt the commissioner will see him and the game fairly.”