Rob Manfred wants to understand all the facts before meeting with Pete Rose

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday morning in a radio interview that he wants to understand all of the facts as he prepares for an upcoming meeting with Pete Rose.

"It's interesting, from the beginning, I've said I really want to understand all of the underlining facts and I think even since Pete applied for reinstatement it's become clear that the facts are an evolving state of affairs. So I think it's really important," said Manfred, appearing on ESPN's "Mike & Mike" radio show.

Manfred said he wants the meeting -- whenever it may be -- to be comfortable so Rose can give whatever information he wants."The reason that I've said I'll meet with Pete, I think it's really important to understand Pete's frame of mind," Manfred said. " .... Understand where he is, how he feels about what has happened and what's his state of mind going forward.

"So I'm going to consider all of that. I'm going to consider it with an open mind and I've really worked hard at trying to avoid saying anything that indicates one way or the other how I feel about this because I think he's entitled to a process that's complete, that's fair and that I approach with an open mind."

Rose, the all-time hits king who has a lifetime banishment for betting on baseball, is in Cincinnati for Tuesday night's All-Star Game. Rose will appear in a pregame ceremony on the Great American Ball Park field with Hall of Famers Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench and Barry Larkin. Rose also is working for Fox Sports as an analyst.

Speaking to the Baseball Writers Association of America in Cincinnati later on Tuesday, Manfred said he was surprised at how much material there is to review about Rose.

"I remain committed to the idea that Mr. Rose deserves an opportunity to tell me in whatever format he feels most comfortable, whatever he wants me to know about the issues," Manfred said. "I'm sure there will be an in-person meeting. I want to schedule that meeting at a point in time that I'm comfortable that I have a good grasp of all the factual material."

Manfred gave no timetable as to when that meeting would be scheduled.

"A part of it is related to what Mr. Rose and his represntatives want to do," Manfred said. "I've made it clear with them that I'm prepared to discuss that timetable, number one. Number two, in terms of my own thinking, timing is going to be determined by how quickly we can get the work done I want to get done before we talk to Mr. Rose."

Tony Clark, the executive director of the MLB Players' Association, said the union has no formal role at this point in Rose's reinstatement.

"It's disappointing that in the same conversation that we talk about the man who's got the most hits ever in our game, it's tied to the banishment and the penalty that he's had for the last 26 years," Clark said. "I don't know that any of us understand or appreciate all the moving pieces tied to this particular situation."

Clark added he is disappointed about the link between the man with 4,256 career hits and his banishment from the game.

"It's disappointing that, my son's 13, and when we talk about Hank [Aaron], and we talk about Willie [Mays], and we talk about all these guys, and he's running through who's got the most RBIs, and the most home runs, and the most runs scored, and the most stolen bases," Clark said. "When we get to hits, he has a hard time appreciating or understanding what happened here and why that acknowledgement any time you bring up the number of hits he has, it's always tied to 'Is he going to be reinstated?'"Bench, who has served on the Hall of Fame veterans committee, had some critical comments regarding Rose during an earlier appearance on "Mike & Mike."

"It's not up to me and I think a lot of people think I'm keeping him out of the Hall of Fame," Bench said. "It's baseball. It's the rules. It's the commissioner's choice now.

"But you have to understand, also, the commissioner now is dealing with at least one guy who is on suspension. He has 11 guys on suspension. If you go back in the history, 11 guys have been suspended. How do you approach that? And what order do you approach it?

"The fact is it's always been up to Pete. Pete had the chance to diffuse this before it ever happened. He had a chance on two different occasions when I was on the committee, Mike Schmidt and Joe Morgan, with the commissioner. We had it all lined out and everything else. It didn't take. It was like you have to adhere by these rules and it didn't happen. And it was again and it didn't happen."