Former President Donald Trump has weighed in on Pete Rose’s potential Hall of Fame induction.
Major League Baseball’s all-time hit king died on Monday at the age of 83 due to hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Rose has a complicated legacy, as his stats scream Hall of Fame, but due to gambling while he was a manager, he was placed on baseball’s permanently ineligible list.
Two years later, the Baseball Hall of Fame voted in 1991 to ban those on that list from ever being inducted.
Thus, he remained a non-Hall of Famer.
The debate is now almost four decades old, and the consensus feeling is that Rose would eventually get into Cooperstown after his death.
That would inevitably be the case, but Trump does not want to wait any longer — he wants Rose in the Hall “now.”
“The GREAT Pete Rose just died. He was one of the most magnificent baseball players ever to play the game. He paid the price!” Trump posted on both Truth Social and X during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. “Major League Baseball should have allowed him into the Hall of Fame many years ago. Do it now, before his funeral!”
MLB, despite the two parties’ differences, shared a statement about Rose.
“Major League Baseball extends its deepest condolences to Pete Rose’s family, his friends across the game, and the fans of his hometown of Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Montreal and beyond who admired his greatness, grit and determination on the field of play. May he rest in peace,” the league wrote.
Rose broke out with his hometown Cincinnati Reds, the team he played 19 of his 24 seasons with, three of which he also served as acting manager, in 1963, and he went on to make league history, while securing three World Series titles along the way.
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Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” for his relentless drive when on the diamond, Rose was league MVP in 1973, a 17-time All-Star, three-time batting title winner, Rookie of the Year, and World Series MVP in his career.
MLB denied all of his requests for reinstatement.
Rose later admitted in 2004 that he did bet on baseball and the Reds, and a June 2015 investigation by ESPN found that Rose did indeed bet on baseball while serving as player and manager for the Reds, with records of the bets made public.
Rose, a switch-hitter, not only leads MLB in all-time hits, but he also has the most games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), and singles (3,215) recorded.
He owned a career .303/.375/.409 slashline with 746 doubles, 1,314 RBI and 160 home runs.
