President Donald Trump Talks Pete Rose and Sports Betting, Pledges Pardon

Posted on: March 1, 2025, 04:45h. 

Last updated on: March 1, 2025, 04:45h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • President Donald Trump thinks Pete Rose should be in baseball’s Hall of Fame
  • Rose was banned from baseball for sports betting
  • Rose says he never bet against himself or his team

President Donald Trump had a busy Friday. After exchanging blows via words with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval White House with Vice President JD Vance, the former casino billionaire took to social media to discuss why he thinks the late Pete Rose was done wrong by Major League Baseball.

Pete Rose Donald Trump pardon
Pete Rose is pictured in 2010. President Donald Trump wants Major League Baseball to remove Rose from its ineligible list to allow him to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the meantime, Trump says he’ll pardon Rose from a federal tax evasion conviction. (Image: Shutterstock)

Rose, who died last September at the age of 83, was indefinitely banned from baseball in 1989 after an MLB investigation determined that he illegally gambled on games he played and coached. With sports betting at the time prohibited most everywhere outside of Nevada, Rose used underground bookies.

Rose later admitted in his autobiography, My Prison Without Bars, that he indeed placed bets on games he was involved. However, the game’s all-time hit leader maintained that he never bet against himself or his team, meaning he did not throw games or try to negatively influence them and violate the game’s integrity.

Rose’s repeated pleas for reinstatement, a necessity for him being inducted into Cooperstown’s National Baseball Hall of Fame, were denied by MLB commissioners, most recently Rob Manfred in 2015. Rose, who said he continued to bet on sports, including baseball, up until his death, passed at his home in Las Vegas on Sept. 30.

Trump Pardon 

Trump oddly took to his Truth Social media platform Friday night to fire off his opinions about the man affectionately known as “Charlie Hustle” for his never-ending grit and competitive drive. With sports betting legal in all but 11 states, and MLB opting not to penalize superstar Shohei Ohtani for failing to realize that his interpreter had gambled away tens of millions of his money on sports, Trump says it’s past due that Rose’s record is wiped.

Major League Baseball didn’t have the courage or decency to put the late, great, Pete Rose … into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 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,” Trump wrote.

“What a shame! 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,” Trump continued.

The president singled out that Rose is the career leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), and singles (3,215).

“Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy ass, and elect Pete Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame!” the president concluded.

Was Pete Rose Convicted of a Crime?

A court of law never found Rose guilty of gambling illegally. However, he was sentenced to five months in a minimum security federal prison in 1990 for filing a false income tax return. He admitted to not reporting his gambling winnings and earnings from selling autographs.

Trump can only pardon individuals for federal offenses. He cannot singlehandedly force MLB to reinstate Rose, nor mandate that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), which votes on who enters Cooperstown, induct Rose.

The BBWAA rules prohibit voting on “any player on Baseball’s ineligible list.”