Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced his plan to posthumously pardon former Major League Baseball (MLB) player Pete Rose. Known as the player with the most hits and as one of the best players of all time, Rose died in 2024 at the age of 83.
Rose spent most of his historic career with the Cincinnati Reds, but also played for the Montreal Expos and Philadelphia Phillies, with whom he won a World Series title in 1980. Rose returned to the Reds as their manager after his playing career ended. However, his career as both a player and manager has been overshadowed by his conduct off the diamond.
In 1989, the bombshell Dowd Report was released, implicating Rose in one of the biggest scandals in MLB history. When he was the Reds’ manager, Rose was found to have been betting on games, even including his own. After the report came out, MLB placed Rose on the permanently ineligible list, meaning he was banned for life.
At first, Rose denied his conduct, saying that he never bet on his own team. He maintained his innocence until 2004, when he finally admitted to having been betting on the Reds when he was their manager, going as far as placing multiple bets on the team a day. Rose admitted his betting in his memoir, which was published that year.
Since his ban, Rose had been apologetic for his actions in multiple interviews and pleaded with baseball’s top writers as well as multiple MLB commissioners to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. However, Rose’s conduct doesn’t solely include betting.
In 2015, John Dowd, author of the Dowd report alleged in a radio interview that Pete Rose had a sexual relationship with a minor sometime in the 1970s. In 2016, Rose filed a defamation lawsuit against Dowd. In 2017, ESPN reported that Rose had admitted to having the relationship, but he did not know that she was underage.
In wake of this, Rose’s induction into the Phillies Wall of Fame was cancelled. He was also fired from FOX Sports as one of their MLB analysts, a job he held since 2015. The case was later dismissed after the two parties settled out of court; however, for Rose, it firmly cemented that his induction into Cooperstown would never happen.
With the pardon from POTUS, the debate has gained steam again on whether or not Rose should be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. After all, he is the all-time hitting king, recording over 4,200 during his career. He is one of the best baseball players the world has ever seen, and his stats show it.
However, his off-field conduct has proven detrimental to his legacy, and rightfully so. Times have changed, especially when it comes to betting. Players and now umpires in MLB have been banned from the game after being investigated and found to be betting.
In recent years, former MLB player Tucupita Marcano and umpire Pat Hoberg have been banned from baseball due to their involvement in sports betting.
He was placed on the permanently ineligible list in 1991, and Rose’s name remains there after his death. He will likely never be inducted into the Hall of Fame and rightfully so.
Rose was an excellent player, one of baseball’s best ever. However time will only tell if Major League Baseball decides to take Rose off the list and allows writers to consider him for the Hall; however, it likely won’t happen.
Even if MLB decides to take his name off the list, writers will likely never vote for Rose based on his actions, both in betting and his other legal troubles.