Exploring Alex Rodriguez's Hall of Fame prospects after Pete Rose ruling

MLB made a huge move on Tuesday after commissioner Rob Manfred announced the removal of Pete Rose and 16 other deceased from the permanently ineligible list.

Calls for Pete Rose's reinstatement from the list grew stronger after the Cincinnati Reds icon's death last year. Rose was out on the list after he was found guilty of gambling on MLB games during his managerial tenure with the team.

With the move to reinstate Rose and potentially giving him a chance of making it to the Hall of Fame posthumously, speculation has risen about the potential of other MLB greats, overlooked previously of making it to Cooperstown.

One of the names that has been doing the rounds since the announcement is New York Yankees great Alex Rodriguez. The three-time MVP has been on the Hall of Fame ballot since 2022 but has got nowhere near making the 75 percent Hall of Fame threshold.

The former World Series champion built a Hall of Fame-worthy resume in more than two decades in the MLB. He won several personal accolades, including 14 All-Star selections and three AL MVP awards, along with 10 Silver Slugger Awards. However, his reputation took a big dent after his involvement in a PED scandal.

Rodriguez has not been a favorite among voters because he violated baseball’s performance-enhancing drugs (PED) policy during the latter stages of his career. He received a 211-game suspension, later reduced to 162 due to his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal in 2014.

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In his most recent ballot appearance in 2025,. Rodriguez received 37.1 percent votes, a slight increase from 34.1 percent in his first year. However, with the league taking a soft stance on Pete Rose and others, Rodriguez might be seen in a different light by the voters.

However, the fact that MLB reinstated Rose from the list only after his death, highlights their strict stance against players who have violated the league's policy over the years, dampening A-Rod's chances.

MLB commissioner revealed reason behind Pete Rose's reinstatement

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred explained the reason behind reinstating the Reds legend from the ineligible list in a letter to Rose's family’s attorney, Jeffrey M. Lenkov.

“In my view,” Manfred wrote in a letter to Lenkov, “once an individual has passed away, the purposes of Rule 21 have been served. Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.”

Although reinstated, the players will not be directly inducted into the Hall of Famer and will need to through a voting process like others.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash