Paul Sullivan: Donald Trump inserts himself into the Pete Rose Hall of Fame saga — and rips baseball as 'dying'

CHICAGO — Pete Rose's entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame likely moved one step closer late Friday when President Donald Trump announced he would soon pardon the all-time hits leader. While Trump's expected pardon for the federal crime of tax evasion has nothing to do with Rose being banned from Major League Baseball for betting as manager of the Cincinnati Reds — the reason why the all-time great is not eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame — it opened the door to the inevitable conclusion of the Rose saga that many of us have predicted: a posthumous entrance to the museum in Cooperstown, New York, with a plaque acknowledging his baseball sins. MLB does not own the National Hall of Fame and Baseball Museum, a private, nonprofit educational institution. The Baseball Writers' Association of America elects members to the Hall of Fame, but Rose has not been eligible since MLB banned him in 1989 for gambling on baseball. And needless to say, the president of the United States has no say in who gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame did not immediately respond to a query Saturday about Trump's social media post, which was sent out late Friday, but reports late Saturday said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is reviewing a petition filed by Rose's family to have him removed from the ineligible list. Trump's post said MLB "didn't have the courage or decency" to induct Rose, whom he acknowledged gambled on baseball, a cardinal sin. Trump wrote that Rose "only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING. He never betted (sic) against himself, or the other team." Rose denied betting on baseball for 15 years before admitting to ABC News' Charles Gibson in 2003: "I bet on baseball in 1987 and 1988. That was my mistake, not coming clean a lot earlier." Manfred denied Rose's bid for reinstatement in 2015. Rose died at age 83 in December. Trump, then president-elect, tweeted: "Major League Baseball should have allowed him into the Hall of Fame many years ago. Do it now, before his funeral!" Vice President J.D. Vance, who hails from Ohio, tweeted at President Joe Biden about Rose's situation in January, after Biden declared the Equal Rights Amendment "the law of the land." "Hey Joe if we're doing fake s--- on the way out can you declare Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame?" Vance tweeted. "See you in two days!" Trump and Vance on Friday morning were defending Russian President Vladimir Putin from criticism by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a contentious news gathering in the Oval Office over peace talks, killing any immediate chance for peace. Trump quickly pivoted from possibly ending a war to reviving a decades-old debate over Rose's baseball legacy. "Baseball, which is dying all over the place, should get off its fat, lazy a--, and elect Pete Rose, even though far too late, into the Baseball Hall of Fame!" Trump wrote. Whether Trump also plans to pardon "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the 1919 Black Sox — who were banned from MLB for throwing the World Series and thus ineligible for the Hall of Fame — remains to be seen. Trump also has no control over that issue. Trump has been inserting himself into the sports world in the first months of his second term. He was the first president to attend a Super Bowl and also made an appearance at the Daytona 500. But his description of baseball as "dying" might suggest he won't be showing up at many MLB games this year. Trump and baseball don't really mix, unlike former President George W. Bush, who once owned the Texas Rangers, or former President Barack Obama, who wore his White Sox fandom on his sleeve while in office. During a White House ceremony in January 2017 celebrating the Chicago Cubs' 2016 championship, Cubs President Theo Epstein offered Obama a "midnight pardon" to switch allegiance, noting that First Lady Michelle Obama was a longtime fan. "And of course we have great faith in your intelligence, your common sense, your pragmatism and your ability to recognize a good thing when you see one," Epstein said to Obama. "So, Mr. President, with only a few days remaining in your tremendous presidency, we've taken the liberty here today of offering you a midnight pardon. And so we welcome you with open arms today." Obama did not take Epstein up on the offer. Trump is reputed to be a New York Yankees fan, though in August 2006, before he entered politics, he threw a ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park before a Yankees-Red Sox game. In his first term as president, Trump was booed at Washington's Nationals Park when shown on the video board during the third inning of Game 5 of the 2019 World Series between the Nationals and Houston Astros. Nationals fans chanted "Lock him up" and "Impeach Trump." Curiously, Trump did not throw out a ceremonial first pitch during his first term in office, as many presidents have done since 1910. "Trump's reluctance to appear in public throwing out a first pitch — even though he was a baseball player in his high school years — struck me as a reluctance to have a vocal plebiscite," MLB's official historian John Thorn quipped to the Washington Post. That could be why Trump is preferred by a higher percentage of NASCAR fans, who typically don't use words like "plebiscite" in daily conversations. How baseball will react to Trump's claim it's "dying all over the place" will be interesting to watch. Manfred said last month in Phoenix that MLB expects an increase in overall attendance for the third straight year, and last year's ratings over all platforms were up, and "particularly (with) 18-34-year-olds." "A real focus for us has been to make sure we have the youngest possible audience," Manfred said. Trump's message to MLB will no doubt be defended by his friends in baseball. He reportedly has many among MLB owners, including Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts, who threw an inaugural party for the president along with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and others. But New York Mets billionaire owner Steve Cohen might not be a Trump favorite after an interview last week in which Cohen blamed Trump's promised tariffs and Elon Musk's DOGE for contributing to what he sees as a "negative" economic outlook. "I don't think it's going to be a disaster. … It may only last a year or so, but it's definitely a period where I think the best gains have been had and it wouldn't surprise me to see a significant correction," Cohen said. Cohen handed free-agent slugger Juan Soto a record 15-year, $765 million contract in December, so no one is too worried about his economic outlook. Meanwhile, baseball is busy preparing for the 2025 season at camps in Florida and Arizona. Don't expect a drop-in from the president. Paul Sullivan is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com.