On April 23, two Republican lawmakers from Southwest Ohio introduced House Concurrent Resolution 15, urging the commissioner of Major League Baseball to remove Cincinnati Reds great Pete Rose from MLB’s “permanently ineligible list as soon as possible” and urging the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and the National Baseball Hall of Fame to then “include Rose on the Hall of Fame ballot.” Thirteen other lawmakers, most also from Southwest Ohio, signed on as sponsors.
Rose, who just turned 83, holds the lifetime MLB record for hits, “is the all-time leader in … at bats, and games played in Major League Baseball, and is the only Major League Baseball player to play more than 500 games at five different positions,” the resolution notes.