NEW YORK -- Baseball's newest Hall of Famers are content to let Bud Selig make the call on Pete Rose's reinstatement.

The commissioner is waiting to schedule a meeting with the 60 living Hall of Famers to discuss whether Rose should be allowed back into the game following his ban for gambling.

Both Eddie Murray and Gary Carter expressed admiration for baseball's career hits leader -- but they don't want to be the ones to make the decision.

"No question Pete is a great ambassador to the game of baseball with what he accomplished on the field,'' Carter said Thursday. "His 4,256 hits will forever be in the Hall of Fame. The issue of reinstatement -- I'm glad I don't have to be a part of it. To me, Pete is a Hall of Famer because of the great career he had. End of story.''

At a news conference introducing baseball's newest Hall of Famers, Murray also tried to stay away from the issue.

"His glove, bats and uniform are already there. He's not forgotten,'' Murray said.

Selig had planned to meet with the members of the Hall on Friday but postponed it last month. He would not give a timetable for the rescheduled meeting, and it appears increasingly unlikely it will happen before the start of spring training in mid-February.

"I asked them to put that off for a little bit,'' he said from the owners' meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz. "We will have that meeting at some appropriate point.''

Hall president Dale Petroskey, who was briefed by Selig on the Rose negotiations last month, hasn't heard anything new from the commissioner.

"It's between the commissioner and Pete,'' he said. "I really don't have an opinion on it. We don't put people on the eligible list. We don't elect people. We induct and enshrine them.''

Rose agreed to a permanent ban from baseball in August 1989 after an investigation of his gambling. Because of the ban, he cannot appear on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Rose applied for reinstatement in September 1997, but Selig hasn't ruled on it. After years of saying he saw no reason to change the ban Rose agreed to with commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, Selig allowed chief operating office Bob DuPuy to negotiate with Rose's agent, Warren Morris, during the past year.

Baseball officials want Rose to admit that he bet on baseball -- which he repeatedly has denied -- as part of any reinstatement agreement.

"I'm just leaving it entirely up to Bud,'' said Joe Morgan, the vice chairman of the Hall and Rose's former teammate. "A commissioner suspended him, a commissioner should be the one to reinstate him. Let's give Bud credit for reviewing it. He's going to make the right decision for baseball. It's not easy for Bud to do, but he's the commissioner and he has to make the decision.''

John Dowd, who headed the Rose inquiry for baseball, wrote a report that detailed 412 baseball wagers between April 8 and July 5, 1987, including 52 on Cincinnati to win. Dowd cited evidence that included betting slips alleged to be in Rose's handwriting, and telephone and bank records.