Trump says he would pardon Pete Rose: Who was the baseball player and what were the charges against him that led to a lifetime ban from MLB?

President Donald Trump on Monday said he would pardon Major League Baseball’s (MLB) all-time hits leader, the late Pete Rose. Trump was speaking alongside UFC boss Dana White at the White House when he made the comment. The president has time and again said that he would pardon the baseball great, who died in 2024 without ever seeing himself in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Trump on Pete Rose pardon

In March 2025, Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would be "signing a complete pardon" of Rose. That was followed by a remark in May this year, when the president suggested that Rose's absence from the Hall of Fame was a "disservice."


"I think Pete Rose should have been in the Baseball Hall of Fame a long time ago," Trump said at the time. "I think baseball did a great disservice by not respecting his achievements on the field," he added.

A tainted legendary career

Pete Rose died in September 2024 of hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease at the age of 83. Rose, nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for his relentless drive, was a league MVP in 1973, a 17-time All-Star, three-time batting title winner, Rookie of the Year, and World Series MVP.

Despite his 4,256 career hits, Rose became a polarizing figure when news broke that he had been betting on baseball.

Rose tried to apply for reinstatement to the MLB several times but was always denied. While he is not featured in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Cincinnati Reds inducted Rose into their own hall of fame in 2016.

Rose also made several appearances in MLB ballparks in the years before his death.

Charges against Pete Rose

In 1990, Rose had pleaded guilty to two felony counts of filing false federal income returns, covering tax years in 1985 and 1987. He admitted to underreporting over $300,000 in earnings from personal appearances, autograph sessions, memorabilia sales, and betting winnings.

The MLB had imposed a lifetime ban on Rose in 1989. The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) and the Hall of Fame followed suit.

In May 2025, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred lifted the ban on Rose and several other players posthumously from an ineligible list, allowing the possibility for those players to be inducted in the Hall. Manfred admitted that Trump’s support for Rose was one of the factors that went into the decision to remove Rose from the ineligible list.