President Donald Trump has announced that he will be posthumously pardoning controversial MLB star Pete Rose.
Rose, a three-time World Series winner, passed away at the age of 83 in September at his home in Las Vegas. It was later revealed that the all-time hit king died from heart disease and that he’d also been battling diabetes.
While he is considered one of the greatest players in history, the MLB icon’s career was a highly controversial one after he was banned from the sport for life for betting on the Cincinnati Reds as both a player and manager of the team.
The lifetime ban, which landed him on the ineligible list, prevented him from induction into the Hall of Fame, something which Trump has now taken aim at MLB for.
‘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,’ Trump posted to Truth Social Friday night, hours after his White House spat with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky.
‘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!
President Donald Trump has announced that he will posthumously pardon Pete Rose
Pete Rose, a three-time World Series winner, passed away at the age of 83 in September
The President hit out at Major League Baseball over Rose’s lifetime ban from the sport
‘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 ass, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!’
It is unclear what charges Trump intends to pardon Rose for as the former player’s punishment of a lifetime ban was handed down by MLB. Presidents have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States.
However, in 1990, Rose entered a plea of guilty to two charges of filing false income tax returns not showing income he received from selling autographs and memorabilia and from horseracing winnings. He was sentenced to five months in a minimum security prison.
Trump previously petitioned for MLB to induct Rose into the Hall of Fame back in October in the days after the hit king’s death.
In 1989, Rose was banned from baseball by then-MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti after the league determined he’d bet on the sport.
He admitted to gambling on the Cincinnati Reds when he played for, and managed, the team from 1985 until 1987.
Rose and former commissioner Giamatti agreed to the lifetime ban in August 1989 after the investigation by lawyer John Dowd found that he placed numerous bets on the Reds, violating one of the oldest rules in baseball.
The all-time hit king’s ban prevented him from induction into the Hall of Fame
The president previously weighed in on whether Rose should be allowed into the Hall of Fame
While he is not accused of betting against the Reds, Rose’s gambling presented a number of problems for MLB, which felt the sanctity of the game was threatened.
For instance, Rose could have held back the team’s best relief pitchers when he didn’t have money on the line, while pushing them t pitch when he was betting on the Reds.
Just a few weeks before his passing, Rose admitted he was still hoping for forgiveness.
‘There’s nothing I can change about the history of Pete Rose,’ he told Texas television station KLTV in an interview published on September 7.
‘I keep convincing myself or telling myself, “Hang in there, Pete, you’ll get a second chance.”‘
‘This is the one country that gives you a second chance,’ Rose added. ‘I continue to hope that someday I’ll get a second chance, and I won’t need a third.’
As well as his betting scandal, in recent years Rose was also accused of having an improper sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s.
In 2017, the Phillies canceled his induction onto the team’s Wall of Fame after a Cincinnati woman said in federal court that she had a sexual relationship with the married Rose that began during his first stint with the Reds in 1973, when she was 14 or 15.
However, Rose has never been charged with statutory rape and the statute of limitations has expired.
The MLB legend spent 17 seasons in Cincinnati and won a World Series in Philadelphia
Although he has reportedly admitted to the relationship, he has insisted that he believed she was 16 at the time of the affair, making her old enough in the state of Ohio to consent to sexual activity.
Rose spent the majority of his baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds but also enjoyed stints with the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos.
Baseball’s all-time leader in hits (4,256), singles (3,215), games played (3,562), and at-bats (14,053), the Cincinnati native won a pair of World Series with the Reds, another with the Phillies, while hitting .303 for his career.
A 17-time All-Star, Rose was also the 1973 National League MVP, the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, and the 1975 World Series MVP.
He returned to Cincinnati, where he finished his career as a player-manager for the Reds, hanging up his spikes as a player for good in 1986