Not a major league team, of course, because he’s banned. Or an affiliated minor league team for the same reason. But an independent team is fair game, and the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League announced yesterday that Rose will serve as their manager on June 16 against the Lancaster Barnstormers.
The best part of all of this is the statement from Ken Shepard, the Bluefish general manager, who said that this will be “one of the biggest and [most] influential announcements in not only franchise history, but in professional baseball in the last 25 years.” I’d suggest that perhaps Shepard should look up the definition of the word “influential,” but he’s on a roll so we’ll just let him go with it.
In any event, I’m sure this will be a totally dignified affair and Rose will not be encouraged to come out onto the field to argue and otherwise draw attention to himself or anything.