MLB Commish Rob Manfred to Make Ruling on Pete Rose Ban After Donald Trump Meeting

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred revealed he plans on making a ruling regarding the sport's permanent ban on Pete Rose following a meeting with President Donald Trump.

Such a ruling could clear the way for Rose, who died in September at 83 years old, to enter the Hall of Fame posthumously.

"I met with President Trump two weeks ago, I guess now, and one of the topics was Pete Rose, but I'm not going beyond that," Manfred said while not committing to any timeline for a decision, per a Monday report from Jake Seiner of the Associated Press.

"He's said what he said publicly. I'm not going beyond that in terms of what the back and forth was."

Seiner noted that Trump posted on social media in February that he will issue "a complete PARDON of Pete Rose," adding the former Cincinnati Reds star "shouldn't have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING."

Seiner also pointed out it isn't entirely clear what a presidential pardon would mean for the situation since Trump did not mention when Rose pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns and served a five-month prison sentence in 1990.

In addition to Manfred's meeting with the president, Jeffrey Lenkov—an attorney who represented Rose during the baseball player's life—filed a petition in January for the commissioner to consider removing Rose from the sport's ineligible list.

Rose can only enter the Hall of Fame if the ban is lifted since there is a specific rule saying anyone who is ineligible cannot be considered for election. If it was lifted, he could be elected by the 16-member Classic Baseball Era committee in December 2027.

After lawyer John M. Dowd discovered in an investigation that Rose placed bets on the Reds while he played for and managed the team, Rose reached an agreement with the league that included a permanent ban.

Former MLB commissioner Bud Selig never issued a ruling on Rose's 1997 application for reinstatement, while Manfred denied an application for reinstatement in 2015.

Rose was one of the best players in baseball history but left behind a complicated legacy. He played in MLB for 24 seasons for the Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos while also managing the Reds for six more campaigns.

He was a three-time World Series champion and remains baseball's all-time hit king with 4,256.