Commissioner to decide on Pete Rose's eligibility by year-end

Disgraced former major leaguer Pete Rose will find out if he will be reinstated by the league within the next few months.

The 74-year-old's request to have his lifetime ban from the league reviewed by commissioner Rob Manfred was granted, as the two sides met at MLB headquarters in New York on Thursday.

"Manfred confirmed he wants a decision by the end of the year," Rose's attorney said. "We appreciate that... (but) we have no comment."

Rose has remained hopeful throughout the process, though sources told T.J Quinn of ESPN they believe it is unlikely Rose will have his suspension lifted.

''I've been suspended a long time, but I made the mistake, and I'm paying the consequences,'' Rose told reporters last week. ''If I'm ever given a second chance, I'll be the happiest guy in the world. I'm an American. This is America, you get a second chance. ... I won't need a third chance.''

Issued a lifetime ban in 1989 for his involvement in gambling on baseball, Rose is the league's all-time hits leader, but is ineligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame due to his current suspension.

Quinn notes that in the unlikely event that Rose is reinstated, his name would go before the Hall of Fame Expansion Era committee, who consider players no longer eligible for election by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Documents obtained by ESPN earlier this summer indicated Rose bet on baseball as a player in 1986, something he previously denied.

The three-time batting champion's major-league career spanned 24 seasons, with 19 of those coming with the Cincinnati Reds. The 17-time All-Star was a part of three World Series-winning teams (1975-76, 1980), and won the World Series MVP (1975) and NL MVP (1973), in addition to the NL Rookie of the Year (1963). He also holds the record for most singles, games played, at-bats, and plate appearances.