Cote: Bravo Trump for sparking new momentum to lift ban of late Pete Rose and get him in Hall
Pardon me, sir, but pardoning Rose for what, exactly?
A 1990 tax-evasion guilty plea for which Rose served five months in prison was his only criminal conviction. He was handed down a life sentence by MLB, a permanent ban, for gambling but there is much doubt whether the scope of Trump's power includes overturning the rulings of sports leagues.
Meantime, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is reviewing and considering an existing petition to lift Rose's ban and thus make him eligible to finally appear on the Hall of Fame ballot and be posthumously inducted.
King Donald (presumably with the support of President Musk) wants to see Rose get into Cooperstown, and so the pardon talk may well just be a way to publicly nudge Manfred in that direction.
At this point I must make a solemn confession with seven words I never imagined I would place in this exact order:
I finally agree with Trump on something.
(Nor did I ever imagine the words 'Bravo Trump' in a headline on anything I'd written.)
I do not side with him on much in general or in specifics such as appearing to side with Russia over Ukraine, mass layoffs of federal employees including essential workers, or fomenting the dismantling of DEI initiatives, LGBTQ rights and women's right to choose.
I also believe that, led by anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Trump has appointed the scariest Cabinet since The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. (Google it, kids.)
But on Rose finally being allowed on the Hall ballot, we agree.
I should note that, pending a Trump executive order to remove me, I am a BBWAA member and a Hall voter — unlike most of the self-righteous, blowhard 'journalists' and self-appointed moralists proselytizing from on high that Rose's ban should exceed his lifetime and extend to eternity.
It isn't the Hall of Saints, folks. I would vote for Rose, as I have written and said for years, just as I voted for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and just as I now vote for Alex Rodriguez. Players who are otherwise absolutely Hall-worthy but for an imperfection should not be forever penalized. (However I also believe their bronze plaque for eternity should mention their delay in getting in; in Rose's case, the gambling matter that kept him out for years ... for life, it turned out.)
Rose foresaw, in this final interview, that he might get in posthumously. Ten days before his death last September, Rose told Ohio sportscaster John Condit: 'I've come to the conclusion — I hope I'm wrong — that I'll make the Hall of Fame after I die. Which I totally disagree with, because the Hall of Fame is for two reasons: your fans and your family. And it's for your family if you're here. It's for your fans if you're here. Not if you're 10 feet under.'
(Note: The standard saying is 'six feet under.' Perhaps unforgiving MLB insisted Rose be buried extra deep as added punishment?)
It should be forever noted Rose bet only on his teams to always win. Under the too-broad umbrella of gambling, what he did was a misdemeanor relative to the felonious and infamous Black Sox scandal in which the 1919 World Series was rigged.
Tendrils of hypocrisy appear in 2025 over baseball's continuing ban of Rose as sports leagues including MLB climb into bed with betting sportsbooks and reap millions from them, while simultaneously acting all aghast and indignant that a player of theirs might dip a toe in gambling.
If it's against the written rule, it merits punishment, yes. Where is separate from the sanctimony is the idea placing bets on your own team to win deserves a lifetime-and-beyond banishment for the player who had more hits than anybody who ever played — the record, and the unwarranted shame, still his.
Said Rose in that final interview: 'I'm not bitter about everything. I'm the one that [expletived] up. Why am I going to be bitter? When you make a mistake, don't be bitter to other people. I wish I hadn't made the mistake, but I did. It's history. Get over it. I didn't hurt you as a fan. I didn't hurt any of my fans by betting on the game of baseball to win. To win, OK?'
Baseball should have had the common sense and forgiveness to lift Rose's ban and allow him on the Hall of Fame ballot while he lived.
It shouldn't take a U.S. president's involvement now to at least make it happen posthumously.
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