Trump to pardon late Pete Rose ‘in the coming weeks’ while MLB considers petition to reinstate all-time hits leader
Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds pictured during a game in August 1978. J. Walter Green/AP CNN —
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he plans to pardon the late baseball all-time hit king Pete Rose “in the coming weeks,” while Major League Baseball is considering a petition to posthumously remove the Cincinnati Reds icon from the sport’s ineligible list.
In a statement on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he will be issuing a “complete pardon” of Rose who gambled on his own team, ending his budding baseball managerial career when he was banned from the sport in 1989 and making him ineligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Trump criticized MLB for not having “the courage or decency” to put Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame and urged them to posthumously award him the sport’s biggest honor.
It’s unclear what Trump will pardon the three-time World Series champion for. He didn’t explicitly mention the case in which Rose pleaded guilty to tax evasion and served five months in the Federal Prison Camp in Marion, Illinois, between August 1990 and January 1991.
Rose denied the gambling accusations for years until 2004 when he wrote in his autobiography, “My Prison Without Bars,” that he turned to betting as a way “to recapture the high I got from winning batting titles and World Series.”
Also on Saturday, ESPN and the Associated Press reported that Manfred is considering a petition filed in January by Rose’s family to have the 17-time All-Star removed from the league’s ineligible list.
Pete Rose was a 17-time Major League Baseball All-Star who played more games and had more hits than anyone in league history. Kim Kulish/Corbis/Getty Images
Rose began his career in 1963 as a 22-year-old second baseman for Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati was his hometown. He would go on to win National League Rookie of the Year. AP
Rose and Cincinnati Reds teammate Jim Maloney celebrate in the dressing room after winning the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets in 1963. The Reds won the game 1-0 after Rose hit a first-inning home run and Maloney pitched a shutout. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Rose’s all-out effort earned him the nickname — first derisively, then admiringly — “Charlie Hustle.” Here, he slides head first into home plate during a game against the Cubs in the late 1960s. Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Rose collides with Cleveland catcher Ray Fosse to score the winning run in the 1970 All-Star Game. Both players were injured on the play. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Rose, far right, poses with a few Cincinnati teammates in 1970. From left are Bobby Tolan, Johnny Bench, Lee May and Rose. The Reds teams that dominated in the ’70s were known as the “Big Red Machine.” Rose would win the World Series with the Reds in 1975 and 1976. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Rose is seen with his father, Harry, in 1971. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Rose gives batting tips to his young son, Pete Rose Jr., in 1972. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Rose and Cincinnati teammates Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench in 1972. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Rose, right, attends an All-Star luncheon in 1973. With him, from left, are Amos Otis, Willie Stargell and Bobby Murcer. AP
Rose, left, gets into a fight with New York Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson after Rose failed to break up Harrelson’s double play in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series in 1973. Both benches and bullpens emptied in the ensuing brawl. Marty Lederhandler/AP
Rose talks to the media before a game in New York in 1973. He won his third batting title that year and was named National League Most Valuable Player. AP
Rose and Hank Aaron meet US President Gerald Ford before their teams played in a season-opening game in Cincinnati in 1974. During that game, Aaron hit his 714th career home run to tie the all-time record held by Babe Ruth. Bob Johnson/AP
Rose watches the Boston Red Sox work out at Fenway Park in 1975. The next day, Rose’s Reds would play the Red Sox in the opening game of the 1975 World Series. AP
Rose hits a single — his 3,000th career hit — during a game in Cincinnati in 1978. AP
Rose signs autographs for Japanese fans as he and Reds teammates arrive at a practice in Tokyo in 1978. The Reds would play a 17-game exhibition series in Japan. Katsumi Kasahara/AP
Rose signed a multiyear contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1978. He won another World Series in 1980. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Rose leaps in the air in an attempt to score against Chicago Cubs catcher Mike O’Berry in 1980. Clem Murray/AP
Rose — back with the Reds at the end of his career — celebrates with teammates after he broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record in 1985. Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Rose, as manager of the Reds, talks with reporters before an exhibition game in 1989. He refused to answer any questions about Major League Baseball’s investigation of his alleged gambling. John Swart/AP
Rose prepares to speak at a news conference in 1989, after he was banned from the game by Commissioner Bart Giamatti. Rose denied at first that he gambled on games. Later in life, he admitted that he did. Rob Burns/AP
Rose tips his cap to fans in Atlanta after he was named to baseball’s All-Century Team in 1999. With him, from left, are Hank Aaron and Ted Williams. Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images
Rose sits at a table at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, waiting to sign autographs for fans in 2005. Isaac Brekken/AP
Rose waves to fans in Cincinnati in 2010 as they celebrate the 25th anniversary of the day he broke the major league hits record. Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Rose is introduced to the crowd in Cincinnati as they honored the 1976 World Series champions in 2016. Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
From left, Rose, Joe Morgan, Barry Larkin and Johnny Bench throw out ceremonial first pitches before the 2015 MLB All-Star Game. Jeff Roberson/AP
Rose stands for photos during the dedication of his statue, which was unveiled outside Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park in 2017. John Minchillo/AP
Rose acknowledges the crowd in Philadelphia prior to a game in 2022. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images In pictures: Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hit king Prev Next
Jeffrey Lenkov, the lawyer who represented Rose until his death in September 2024 at the age of 83, told CNN that he filed a petition in January and that he attended a meeting with Rose’s daughter Fawn, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB executive Pat Courtney on December 17.
Lenkov said that MLB is evaluating the petition.
Lenkov told ESPN he had not “actively sought” the White House’s help in trying to get Rose removed from the ineligible list, without which he cannot be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A spokesperson for the National Baseball Hall of Fame tells CNN that if MLB were to reinstate the 1975 World Series MVP, his consideration for induction into Cooperstown must come through the Hall’s Era Committee process rather than the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote.
“Voting rules require that candidates on the BBWAA ballot must have played in the Major Leagues no more than 15 years prior to each election,” the Hall of Fame spokesperson said.
Trump has urged MLB to include Rose in the Baseball Hall of Fame before, tweeting in February 2020 that the player “gambled, but only on his own team winning, and paid a decades long price.”
Rose petitioned the MLB to be reinstated in September 2016 and February 2020.
Rose was one of baseball’s greats who topped MLB’s all-time hit list with 4,256 over a 24-season career. He stood out for his all-in effort, sliding head-first and running even when a pitcher walked him – a style that earned him the nickname, first derisively, then admiringly, “Charlie Hustle.”
CNN’s Kevin Dotson contributed to this report.