The MLB has reinstated Pete Rose’s eligibility for the Hall of Fame after President Donald Trump made an impassioned plea for the late star.
Rose, who died at 83 last year, was a 17-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion, and the league’s all-time leader in hits.
While his playing career made him a shoo-in for baseball’s Hall of Fame, he received a lifetime ban from the MLB in 1989 for betting on games, including his own, as a player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds. In 1991, the league’s Hall of Fame voted to officially make him permanently ineligible for entry.
Now, that ban has been lifted, according to a statement released Tuesday by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who framed the decision as a new policy that permanent ineligibility ends when a person dies.
“Obviously, a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game,” Manfred wrote. “Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.”
Manfred had upheld Rose’s ban when the former superstar applied for reinstatement in 2015. When Rose sent a letter asking for forgiveness in 2022, Manfred reiterated his stance that the punishment was fair.
While Manfred’s statement makes no mention of the U.S. president influencing the decision, it comes after Trump called for leniency toward the disgraced legend.
In February, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that Rose deserved to be in baseball’s Hall of Fame, writing that he was planning to offer him a posthumous “complete pardon.”
Rose was convicted of tax fraud in 1990 but never faced a legal punishment for betting on games. It’s not clear how the presidential pardon power would extend to decisions made by a professional sports league.
Nevertheless, Trump wrote, “Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy a–, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!”
Manfred and Trump spoke last month. Manfred revealed that the conversation, which was primarily about the impact that the president’s immigration crackdown could have on international players, touched on Rose.
However, Manfred was unwilling to go into specifics.
“I met with President Trump two weeks ago, I guess now, and one of the topics was Pete Rose, but I’m not going beyond that,” he said at the time.
Now, Trump’s wish has come true.
The White House and the MLB did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on whether Trump’s influence played a role in the decision.
Rose had denied the gambling allegations for more than 15 years, until the 2004 release of his memoir, My Prison Without Bars. In the years that followed, he made a habit of signing balls with the inscription “Sorry I bet on baseball.”
Trump, a longtime baseball fan, has long advocated for Rose to be let into the Hall of Fame, posting social media pleas to that effect as early as 2014.
Just received from @PeteRose_14. Thank you Pete! #VoteTrump on Tuesday Ohio! #Trump2016#MakeAmericaGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/UvP03n7dQq
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2016
In March 2016, before he was elected into office, Trump posted a photo of baseball that Rose had signed for him, which said, “Please Make America Great Again.”
A spokesperson for Rose later clarified that the signature was not meant to be a political endorsement. Rose didn’t endorse a candidate in 2020 or 2024 either.
The post MLB Reinstates Pete Rose After Dramatic Trump Intervention appeared first on The Daily Beast.
