Pete Rose: 'I'd love to talk' to Rob Manfred

It's no secret Pete Rose wants to be elected into the Hall of Fame, badly.

Now that Bud Selig is out of the picture, Rose has renewed optimism that new commissioner Rob Manfred may lift his lifetime ban from baseball for gambling on games .

"I wish I could tell that I know what he'll do," Rose told Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports. "But I've never met him. I've never seen him. But I'd love to talk to him."

Manfred expects to have a conversation about possibly reinstating Rose, a chance the former Cincinnati Red believes he's entitled to.

"I've done my time, I've paid the price,'' Rose added. "Isn't it time to forgive? Isn't this country about getting second chances?"

The impending All-Star Game in Cincinnati will add pressure to the debate this summer, as Rose is expected to be a part of the festivities, and Manfred will surely be bombarded with questions surrounding his fate at the event.

Rose is the all-time major-league leader in hits (4,256) and batted a very respectable .303 in more than 1,400 career at-bats - numbers he believes justify his call to Cooperstown.

"I just want to be on that writer's ballot," Rose exclaimed. "Let the writers decide. If they want me in, I'm in. If they don't feel I should be in, I can live with it."