President Donald Trump has renewed his call for a presidential pardon for Pete Rose, the Cincinnati Reds legend and Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader, saying the former player was "mistreated" and that he would grant the clemency if asked. The remarks, made in Washington, add fresh pressure to a long-running debate over whether Rose should be recognized more fully by the sport that banned him.
Rose, who died in 2025 at age 83, pleaded guilty in April 1990 to federal tax charges, admitting he had filed false returns covering the 1985 and 1987 tax years and underreported more than $300,000 in income. That conviction was separate from the baseball punishment that has defined his legacy. In 1989, MLB banned Rose for betting on baseball, including on the Reds, the team he managed at the time. Rose consistently denied that he had bet against his team, and Trump echoed that position, arguing that Rose had been treated unfairly and that his gambling involved his own club.
Trump said he had spoken with the commissioner about Rose's Hall of Fame case, and he framed the pardon as a matter of correcting an injustice. The president had made a similar statement in March 2025, when he said he would sign a pardon for Rose. Dana White, the UFC president, also voiced support for a Rose pardon, adding to the public voices pushing for the move.
The question of Rose's standing has shifted in recent months. MLB lifted his ban posthumously in May 2025, a decision that came after Commissioner Rob Manfred said that Trump's support was one factor in the review. Rose had been denied reinstatement several times before, including in 2015, 2020 and 2022. The ban's removal did not, however, put him in the Hall of Fame. Rose has never been inducted, and the Hall has not yet held a vote on his candidacy since the change.
Rose's on-field achievements remain the backdrop to the debate. He holds the major league career record with 4,256 hits, a mark that has long stood as one of the most prominent statistics in the sport. The Cincinnati Reds retired his No. 14 and inducted him into the team's Hall of Fame in 2016, recognitions that many fans and supporters have pointed to as evidence that his playing career deserves wider honor.
Whether a pardon would have any effect on baseball's own decisions is less clear. Rose's federal conviction and his MLB ban rest on separate legal and disciplinary tracks, and the Hall of Fame sets its own voting rules. For now, Trump's comments keep Rose's case in the public conversation, nearly four decades after the events that ended his career in the dugout.