Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is reviewing whether to reinstate the late Pete Rose from baseball’s ineligible list, multiple outlets reported.
The move comes after President Donald Trump blasted MLB in a social media post late Friday for Rose’s lifetime ban in 1989 for gambling. Trump said he intended to pardon Rose, who died Sept. 30, 2024, at age 83.
In late 2024, Rose attorney Jeffrey Lenkov and Rose’s daughter, Fawn Rose, met with Manfred about the Rose case, then filed a petition requesting reinstatement, per reports.
ESPN said the goal of Rose’s family is to finally see the all-time MLB hits leader (4,256) inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Under Hall of Fame rules, anyone on baseball’s ineligible list is not eligible to be inducted.
Rose was declared ineligible after an investigation found he gambled on the Cincinnati Reds while the team’s manager. In 2004, he admitted to betting on baseball while managing the Reds.
He never faced criminal charges in relation to gambling. In 1990, he spent five months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges.
It wasn’t clear on what grounds Trump thought he would issue a pardon when he posted this to his Truth Social account:
“Major League Baseball didn’t have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose, also known as ‘Charlie Hustle,’ into the Baseball Hall of fame. Now he is dead, will never experience the thrill of being selected, even though he was a FAR BETTER PLAYER than most of those who made it, and can only be named posthumously. WHAT A SHAME!” Trump posted.
“Anyway, over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete PARDON of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING. He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history. 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!”
–Field Level Media
