Trump claims to pardon baseball legend Pete Rose

President Donald Trump of the United States criticized Major League Baseball on Friday for excluding the all-time hit champion from the sport’s hall of fame due to his gambling, and he announced that he would pardon baseball legend Pete Rose.

Rose, who passed away at the age of 83 last year, received a life baseball ban. Despite never betting on his own club, he acknowledged in 2004 that he had placed wagers on games.

“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 said in a post on Truth Social.

“He never wagered on the opposing team or against himself. He won the most games in sports history and has by far the most hits in baseball history.

Rose wasn’t found guilty of any crimes, therefore Trump didn’t specify what the pardon would cover.

The Philadelphia Phillies called off a 2017 event to honor Rose following claims that he had slept with a girl before she was sixteen in the 1970s. At the time, he claimed, she was 16, the legal age of consent, according to ESPN.

Having played for the Cincinnati Reds for the most of his 1963–1986 career, Rose won three World Series and is the all-time leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles, and outs in Major League Baseball.