President Donald Trump said Friday that he would pardon baseball great Pete Rose and criticized Major League Baseball for barring the all-time hit leader from the sport’s Hall of Fame for gambling.
Rose, who died last year at 83, was banned from baseball for life. He admitted in 2004 that he had bet on games, though never against his own team. Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2015 rejected Rose’s bid for reinstatement.
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“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “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.”
Trump did not say what the pardon would cover. Rose served five months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges in 1990.
In a statement to ESPN, John Dowd, who investigated Rose for MLB in 1989 and served as Trump’s lawyer seven years ago, noted that MLB is “not in the pardon business nor does it control admission to the HOF.”
Rose, who spent most of his 1963 to 1986 career with the Cincinnati Reds, won the World Series three times and remains Major League Baseball’s career leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles and outs.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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