Pete Rose has directly appealed to baseball's Hall of Fame to restore his eligibility, arguing the lifetime ban he agreed to in 1989 was never intended to keep him out of Cooperstown.

Rose makes his case in a seven-page letter to Hall president Jeff Idelson.

"At the time Pete agreed to the settlement, the consequences of being placed on the ineligible list were clear and specific -- and did not include a Hall of Fame prohibition," according to the letter, signed by Rose's longtime attorney Raymond C. Genco and attorney Mark Rosenbaum.

The Hall of Fame changed its bylaws two years after Rose's banishment to make permanently banned players ineligible for Cooperstown.

"We believe that the institution of Baseball will be strengthened by this act of grace -- an act that would give Pete Rose the same treatment that every other Major League Baseball player and manager received throughout the first 55 years of the National Baseball Hall of Fame," the letter said.