TMZSports.com
Longtime Reds announcer Marty Brennaman is thrilled Pete Rose is now eligible for the Hall of Fame — but he admits he’s still got a bone to pick with Major League Baseball … telling TMZ Sports the decision should have been made YEARS ago.
Brennaman — who called most of Rose’s memorable moments in a Cincinnati uniform — didn’t make many bones about it during a sit-down with us the day after Rob Manfred lifted Rose’s lifetime ban … explaining, “I just felt he had served his jail time, if you will, far longer than he really should have had to do it.”
“And,” Brennaman added, “the fact they rushed to make him eligible within in a matter of months to me was the wrong way to go about doing business.”
Rose, of course, was barred permanently back in 1989 … after he had bet on games during his time as Reds manager. In the ensuing years, he and his family had petitioned numerous times to try to get the punishment lifted.
Brennaman made it clear that while he was happy it’s finally done, he wished Manfred would have just taken care of it while Rose was still alive.
“I’m just trying to reconcile in my own mind why they waited as long as they did,” he told us.
Nonetheless, Brennaman said he’s sure Rose’s family and friends are “probably jubilant” … although a plaque in Cooperstown still could be a ways away — as the Hall of Fame said Tuesday Rose won’t be eligible for enshrinement until 2027.
