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Scrutiny increased over Pete Rose’s Baseball Hall of Fame eligibility once the former Cincinnati Reds star died last year, as President Donald Trump weighed in with his own thoughts on the issue.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred removed Rose, and several other players, from the ineligible list in May, allowing the possibility of those athletes being voted into the Hall of Fame. He admitted at a news conference owners meeting on Wednesday that Trump’s support for Rose was one of the many factors that went into the decision.
“The president was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was the right decision,” Manfred said. “Obviously, I have respect for the office and the advice that he gave I paid attention to, but I had a lot of other people that were weighing in on the topic, as well.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social in March that he planned to pardon Rose. He and Manfred met in April about Rose’s Hall of Fame candidacy.
“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!” the president wrote.
“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!”
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Rose died last September at the age of 83 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
The effort to get Rose a plaque in Cooperstown took a step forward on May 13.
“This issue has never been formally addressed by Major League Baseball, but an application filed by the family of Pete Rose has made it incumbent upon the Office of the Commissioner to reach a policy decision on this unprecedented issue in the modern era as Mr. Rose is the first person banned after the tenure of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis to die while still on the ineligible list. Commissioner Manfred has concluded that MLB’s policy shall be that permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual,” the MLB said.
Rose admitted to gambling in 2004 after years of claiming his innocence. He died in September and predicted 10 days before his death he would not make the Hall of Fame until after he died, if at all.
It was found that Rose gambled on the Reds, only to win, while he was both a manager and a player.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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