President Trump says he plans to issue “a complete PARDON of Pete Rose,” baseball’s late career hits leader who was banned from MLB and the Hall of Fame for sports betting.
Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday night to say Rose, who died in September at age 83, “shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING.”
Mr. Trump did not specifically mention Rose’s tax case in which Rose pleaded guilty in 1990 to two counts of filing false tax returns and served a five-month prison sentence.
The president said he would sign a pardon for Rose “over the next few weeks.”
MLB and Rose agreed to a permanent ban in 1989 after an investigation determined he had bet on games involving the Cincinnati Reds from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.
The Hall of Fame board of directors in 1991 adopted a rule preventing people on the permanently ineligible list from appearing on the hall ballot.
