In September of 2024, Pete Rose died at the age of 83. Rose’s legacy in the game is especially complicated — there’s the matter of his ban from baseball over betting on his own team, which has kept him out of the Hall of Fame; there’s also the matter of his skill as a player and him holding the league’s all-time record for hits. There are also other factors at play here, including the accusations of statutory rape that arose a few years before his death.
A few recent developments could change Rose’s status and his decades-long ban from baseball. As ESPN reported, President Donald Trump took to social media this week to indicate that he planned to pardon Rose. Trump wrote that Rose “shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on his team winning.” Rose was sentenced to prison for tax evasion in 1990.
If the planned pardon does materialize, it wouldn’t be the first time Trump had pardoned a high-profile athlete. In 2018, Trump issued a posthumous pardon to boxer Jack Johnson. That said, the charges Johnson faced more than a century ago were a product of the racism of the time, while Trump acknowledged in his defense of Rose on social media that Rose had, in fact, bet on his own team.
A New Biography Explores the Paradox of Pete Rose
Keith O’Brien discusses his book “Charlie Hustle”In announcing his plans to pardon Rose on social media, Trump also argued that the Baseball Hall of Fame should admit Rose. According to the Associated Press’s Jay Cohen, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is considering allowing Rose to be admitted into the Hall of Fame. Rose had sought reinstatement multiple times during his life, including once with Trump’s support, but was unsuccessful in doing so. It’s worth noting that Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, also advocated for a reinstatement for Rose before he and Trump took office earlier this year.
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