If Pete Rose succeeds in his bid for reinstatement and eventually makes the Baseball Hall of Fame, he'll be welcomed with open arms by Pedro Martinez.
The 2015 Hall of Famer said Wednesday that there's no doubt in his mind baseball's all-time hits leader should be enshrined in Cooperstown.
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"With all due respect to everybody — to the Hall of Fame, to the new commissioner, to the former commissioner — I believe he should be in there," Martinez said on an MLB Network conference call. Martinez has joined the network as an analyst.
New MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last week he will consider Rose's formal request for reinstatement, and that in itself is a victory for the 73-year-old. Rose in 1989 accepted a lifetime ban from baseball after an investigation found evidence that he gambled on games during his time as player-manager of the Reds.
Rose, who collected 4,256 hits during his 24-year major league career, has spent the better part of the last 25 years stating his case that he should be allowed back into the game's good graces. Those pleas were generally ignored by the commissioner during most of that span, Bud Selig, who retired in January.
But Martinez believes the time has come to open the door to Rose.
"I’ve always been very vocal about Pete because I remember coming up in the ‘80s and watching Pete Rose — Charlie Hustle, like they called him," Martinez said. "I mean, his performance in the field, to me, was outstanding. Looking at the history of the game, who is the next guy (to challenge his hits record)? I thought Derek Jeter had probably the most legit chance of catching Pete Rose, and he retired, and he was as close as we could get.
"What he did is special for the game. I think he’s paid his dues already. I think he’s been out and suffering for not being in long enough. I believe he should be in."
Martinez is a big-tent guy when it comes to Cooperstown; he has said he believes Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds also belong in the Hall of Fame based on what they accomplished before performance-enhancing drug allegations derailed their careers, and he reiterated that Wednesday.
"I thought they were Hall of Famers before they got into the different things that they did," Martinez said.