Mark Wahlberg is developing a feature film about Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader and one of its most complicated figures. The project, which already has a script and conversations with filmmakers underway, would center on Rose’s return to the Cincinnati Reds as player-manager, his pursuit of Ty Cobb’s career hits record, and the gambling scandal that ended his formal association with the game.
Wahlberg has said the story begins in the mid-1980s, when Rose came back to Cincinnati to chase Cobb’s mark of 4,191 hits. Rose broke the record on Sept. 11, 1985, finishing his career with 4,256 hits, along with records for games played, at-bats, and singles. He served as player-manager from 1984 to 1986 and remained the Reds’ manager through 1989. That final chapter — on-field grit paired with off-field collapse — is the core of the planned film.
Production timing remains fluid. In April, Wahlberg said a script existed and that the team was speaking with filmmakers. Last week on The Rich Eisen Show, he said the hope was to begin production in early 2027. Over the weekend, while announcing a sports-card partnership, he indicated filming could start later this year. He has confirmed he intends to play Rose himself, focusing on the older player-manager rather than the young star of the Big Red Machine.
The timing of the project is notable. Rose died on Sept. 30, 2024, at 83. In May 2025, Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Rose and other deceased individuals from Major League Baseball’s permanently ineligible list, ruling that lifetime bans end at death. The decision made Rose eligible for Hall of Fame consideration. The Classic Baseball Era Committee is scheduled to vote in December 2027, with possible induction in 2028.
That context has already colored public reaction. When a fan shouted “Put him in the Hall of Fame!” at Wahlberg’s recent appearance, the actor answered immediately: “We gotta put him in the Hall of Fame, yes!”
Rose’s on-field résumé is not in dispute. He was a 17-time All-Star, the 1973 National League MVP, a two-time Gold Glove winner, and a three-time World Series champion (1975 and 1976 with Cincinnati, 1980 with Philadelphia). His style — headfirst slides, relentless at-bats, the “Charlie Hustle” nickname — defined an era. The 1989 investigation by attorney John Dowd, the agreement with Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, and Rose’s later admission that he bet on baseball, including Reds games, defined the other half of his public life.
A successful biopic will have to hold both halves without flattening either. Wahlberg’s previous sports and true-story work (The Fighter, Patriots Day) suggests a preference for grounded, character-driven accounts rather than simple hagiography or condemnation. Whether the finished film lands there will depend on the script, the director, and how much of Rose’s post-baseball years — the memorabilia circuit, the denials, the eventual confession — make the cut.
For now the project remains in development. No studio, director, or additional casting has been announced. What is clear is the appetite. Rose’s records still stand. The Hall of Fame debate is no longer theoretical. And Hollywood has a bankable star willing to spend months preparing to play one of baseball’s most polarizing men at the moment his official exile finally ended.
