TORONTO–National Hockey League Hall of Fame Chairman Wayne Gretzky announced today that the 2016 class would include, alongside legendary hockey player Wayne Gretzky, Major League Baseball’s all time hits leader Pete Rose.  Rose joins Gretzky, who starred at his position of hockey player for a seemingly very long time for at least two professional hockey teams.  It is Gretzky’s 17th straight year to receive the honor, and Rose’s first induction into any sports hall of fame.

“We’re really proud to have such an incredible player as Pete to be a part of our Hall of Fame,” Gretzky said, “It’s an incredible feat for a guy who never played hockey to become a hall of famer, but if no one else wants him, we’ll be honored to have him.”

Gretzky, who invented hockey sometime in the 1970s, described the NHL Hall of Fame as a group of inclusion, one in which down on their luck athletes from every sport can seek refuge.

“We’ve become almost like a charity,” Gretzky said, “We see a guy like Pete, a sad, pathetic, pudgy, degenerate gambler, and we want to help him out.  Nobody really knows much about hockey anyway, so what can it hurt?”

Rose joins previous inductees Jose Canseco, Curt Schilling, Terrell Owens, and Wayne Gretzky.