From the Associated Press :
Pete Rose’s eligibility for the baseball writers’ Hall of Fame ballot expired Monday when the 2006 candidates were announced, a group that includes Cy Young Award winners Orel Hershiser and Dwight Gooden.
Albert Belle, Will Clark and Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen were among 14 first-time candidates on the 29-man ballot. Bruce Sutter is the holdover who came closest to election, falling 43 votes shy last year
The headline above comes from Ben Schwartz who elaborates,
In other words, Pete Rose™s motivation to go public, publish books, and act contrite for crimes he still doesn™t admit he committed ALSO ENDS WITH his eligibility for the Hall of Fame EXPIRING. That means, Rose can go back to hustling without apologies and claim permanent martyr status in baseball next Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver.
Then again, if Albert Belle makes it, the Hall will have all the bad attitude it needs to more than make up for Rose.
I would like to point out that Tom Sizemore is still very eligible for the Fake Penis Hall Of Fame. And congratulations, by the way, to John Lydon on his election to an equally rarified club.