Pete Rose may never have formally endorsed former President Trump, but the Republican presidential candidate offered a message of support for baseball’s exiled hit leader following Rose’s death this week.
Trump took a break from posting on Truth Social about the vice presidential debate Tuesday night, switching to X to call for Rose to be immediately inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame despite the legendary player’s permanent disqualification from betting on baseball as a player and manager for the Cincinnati Reds.
The GREAT Pete Rose just passed away. He was one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game. He paid the price! Major League Baseball should have inducted him into the Hall of Fame years ago. Do it now, before his funeral! DJT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2024
“The GREAT Pete Rose just passed away,” Trump wrote. “He was one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game. He paid the price! Major League Baseball should have inducted him into the Hall of Fame many years ago. Do it now, before his funeral!”
Rose died Monday of high blood pressure and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the Clark County coroner’s office in Nevada. He was 83. No funeral services have been announced for Rose.
Read more: Pete Rose, Baseball Legend Banned for Gambling on the Game He Loved, Dies at 83
Banned from baseball since 1989, Rose remained popular with some baseball fans and is still celebrated in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Trump has previously spoken out on Rose’s behalf.
Days before Ohio’s 2016 presidential primary, the first-time candidate told a crowd in West Chester, Ohio, “We have to let Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame.” Trump also tweeted a photo of an autographed baseball he “just received from @PeteRose_14.” The note on the ball read, “Mr. Trump, please make America great again,” along with Rose’s signature.
Ray Genco, an attorney for Rose, said in an email to the Washington Post on the eve of the 2016 primaries: “Pete has made a point of not ‘endorsing’ any particular presidential candidate. While he respects everyone who works hard for our country – any outlet that misinterpreted a signed baseball as an endorsement was wrong.
Trump lost the primary to then-Ohio Governor John Kasich, but he carried the state in November’s presidential election, defeating Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president.
Read more: Opinion: We all made Pete Rose’s tragedy possible
On February 5, 2020, in the wake of the Houston Astros cheating scandal, Rose petitioned MLB for reinstatement. Days later, then-President Trump tweeted his support.
Pete Rose played Major League Baseball for 24 seasons, from 1963 to 1986, and had more hits, 4,256, than any other player (by a wide margin). He gambled, but only on his own team’s victory, and paid a decades-long price. GET PETE ROSE INTO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME. It’s time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2020
“He gambled, but only on his own team’s victory, and paid a decades-long price,” wrote Trump, who also won Ohio in the 2020 presidential election but lost the presidency to Joe Biden. “BET PETE ROSE TO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME. It’s time!”
In a 2019 interview on Fox Business Network, Rose described himself as “a Donald Trump guy.”
“He’s doing a good job for the country,” Rose said of the then-president.
Read more: Boiling point: why I skipped the presidential debate and went to a baseball game
Rose added that he knew Trump in the 1980s and that he “was always a down-to-earth guy.”
“I think he’s similar to me in this regard. Throughout my career, I’ve always answered every question I’ve been asked,” Rose said. ‘And sometimes it’s better not to answer every question.’
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
