Pete Rose to join FOX baseball pre-game broadcasts

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader who has been banned from the sport since 1989, will join FOX as a guest analyst on various pre-game shows.

Pete Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader who has been banned from the sport since 1989, will join Fox as a guest analyst on various pre-game shows, Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported Saturday.

Rose will be a guest analyst for the MLB on Fox pre-game shows on Fox and Fox Sports 1, and he will also appear on Fox Sports 1's MLB Whiparound, America's Pregame and Fox Sports Live.

Rose, who turned 74 on Tuesday, was banished from the sport in 1989 for violating Rule 21(d), which mandates that any player, umpire, club or league official must not bet on baseball. Rose was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds at the time.

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"I enjoy talking baseball, and that's what this is all about," Rose said Thursday. "Enjoying the game of baseball, sitting in the green room watching two or three games, getting on TV and talking about it. It's right up my alley, I think."

As a broadcast partner of MLB, Fox was not required to seek permission to hire Rose. Network officials did, however, inform MLB of their intentions to audition Rose and sign him to a contract.

"As a courtesy, FOX informed us that they were interviewing Pete Rose for an on-air studio position," said Pat Courtney, baseball's chief communications officer. "The decision to hire on-air talent for its telecasts rests solely with FOX."

Rose was a 17-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion and 1973 NL MVP over his 24-year playing career. He retired in 1986 with 4,256 career hits, the most in MLB history. He was later the Reds' manager from 1984 to 1989.

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Rose has officially requested reinstatement from new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who replaced Bud Selig in January. Manfred said last month he would "deal with that request on its merits."

Rose currently lives in Las Vegas and told Rosenthal he typically watches a full slate of games each day. Rose told Rosenthal that Charles Barkley, the Basketball Hall of Famer who is now an Inside the NBA analyst for TNT, is a model for him to follow as a broadcaster.

"Charles knows the game. Charles played the game. Charles is a Hall of Famer," Rose said. "So, Charles knows the right way to play the game. He might criticize a player in one sentence and pat him on the back in the next sentence.

"With Charles, that's just his personality. He doesn't do it for ratings. He does it because that's the way his personality is. I respect that. Shaq sits there, and sometimes he disagrees with Charles, which makes a good show.

- Mike Fiammetta