NEW YORK — MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday appeared to acknowledge that President Donald Trump had some influence on his decision to reinstate the late Pete Rose.
Manfred last month took Rose off MLB’s permanently ineligible list, which made Rose newly eligible for election into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Manfred had met with Trump in Washington, D.C., in April.
“The President was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was the right decision,” Manfred said at MLB’s headquarters. “Obviously, I have respect for the office and the advice that he gave. I paid attention to (it). But I had a lot of other people that were weighing in on the topic as well.”
At the end of February, the president stumped for Rose on social media.
“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 posted on Truth Social at the time. “He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history.”
Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader, died at age 83 in September. He collected 4,256 hits across 24 big-league seasons. Before Manfred’s decision last month, Rose had been on MLB’s permanently ineligible list since 1989 for betting on baseball. Manfred reasoned that in death, Rose was no longer a threat to the game.
“I think it is what I expected, to tell you the truth,” Manfred said when asked about the reaction to Rose’s reinstatement. “It was mixed. Some people, I think candidly those who really think about the reasons that I did it, think that it is the right decision. And other people, I think largely get confused with whether he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame or not, and maybe don’t think that was so good. But mixed is what I would say.”
(Photo of Rose, right, with coach Tommy Helms in 1987: Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
