Pete Rose has been removed from Major League Baseball’s permanently ineligible list

Pete Rose , baseball's all-time hit leader, died last year at 83 ; he bet on his own team’s games.

Ruben Navarrette : Rose's removal from list is a shameless political favor to Donald Trump .

He says it's hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.

Ruben Navarrette : Pete Rose's reinstatement is one of the most cynical things any commissioner has ever done.

He says Rose 's ineligibility is the game’s firewall against other players breaking Rule 21(d ) He says it's important that nobody in baseball bet on baseball; rule prevents another Black Sox episode.

He asks: What does it do to put a halo around Rose in his grave?.

(Most Hall of Famers get in by a vote from the sport’s journalist association, which I suspect wouldn’t admit Rose. I don’t know if a smaller committee will.) Manfred has determined that permanence is no longer so permanent when he has other objectives. All that is left to learn is whether every visitor to Cooperstown , New York , will soon be reminded of the commissioner’s surrender. Rose’s ultimate loss would be that he did not live to see it..