Front and back page press
Fresh from hogging the front-page headlines after the Ukraine White House showdown last week, President Donald Trump was front and center of the sports section this weekend.
will pardon the late Pete Rose “in the coming weeks”
Trump took to X Saturday to announce he will pardon the late Pete Rose “in the coming weeks” while he also dispensed some choice invective at MLB:
MLB in 1989 handed former Cincinnati Reds great Rose a lifetime ban from baseball after he bet on games that he managed. Trump stated Saturday that while Rose shouldn’t have wagered on baseball, he “only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING.”
The President then launched into a scathing attack on the MLB, slamming the baseball body for not having “the courage or decency” to induct Rose into the Baseball Hall of Fame while he was still alive.
President tosses grenades
Donald Trump has long harangued the MLB to make Rose a Hall of Famer. Even after Rose passed on September 30, Trump told the MLB to induct him “now, before his funeral!”
What good would it do my family”
Just weeks before his death, Rose spoke about the legions of fans who would love to see him make the Hall of Fame “as a living player, not as someone that’s ten feet under. What good would it do my family if they put me in the Hall of Fame after I die?”
Donald Trump won’t let the issue rest. On Saturday, he said: “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!”
According to media reports, exactly what Trump will pardon Rose for is unknown. The POTUS made no explicit mention of the case in which the 17-time All-Star admitted to tax evasion charges and served five months in a federal prison.
MLB considering petition
Also on Saturday, AP and ESPN reported the MLB was in fact already considering a petition lodged by Rose’s family to have him removed from the league body’s ineligible list.
While MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is mulling the petition, a Hall of Fame spokesperson stated the process was more complicated. The spokesperson said if MLB were to reinstate Rose, “his consideration for induction into Cooperstown must come through the Hall’s Era Committee process rather than the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote.”
must have played in the Major Leagues no more than 15 years prior to each election.”
The Hall of Fame insider added: “Voting rules require that candidates on the BBWAA ballot must have played in the Major Leagues no more than 15 years prior to each election.”