MLB’s all-time hit king Pete Rose has formally applied to new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for reinstatement into the game. If his application is successful, Rose would be eligible for Hall of Fame consideration.

But I ain’t holding my breath.

Over at The Bleacher Report, Tyler Conway cites an interview former Commissioner Faye Vincent did with Steven Marcus of Newsday last month which pretty much sums up why Rose will never be reinstated:

The Pete Rose case is not about Pete Rose, so the issue of ‘has he served his time, does he deserve mercy?’ is in my book irrelevant. This issue has always been the deterrent in baseball against gambling [and] is almost perfectly successful. It never happens, and the reason it doesn’t happen is if you touch that third rail, you’re out of baseball for life whether you’re a Hall of Famer or not, and nobody’s ever been reinstated.

Not only are you out of baseball for life, but for eternity. If Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 Black Sox scandal fame cannot get into Cooperstown nearly 100 years after he was acquitted in a court of law then Charlie Hustle’s application isn’t going to get out of the on deck circle.