WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 17: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat while participating in a Made in America event with companies from 50 states featuring their products in the Blue Room of the White House July 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. American manufacturers representing each of the 50 states participated in the showcase, including Bully Tools, Cheerwine, Stetson, Simms and RMA Armament, Charles Machine Works, Honckley Yachts, Altec Inc., Caterpiller, Pierce Manufacturing and others. (Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)
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Aside from high-stakes negotiations between teams and players, the Rule 5 Draft and the standard draft lottery, the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings will also feature the latest update on the Baseball Hall of Fame and some of its more controversial contenders.
The Winter Meetings will begin with the announcement of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot results, which will include the latest decisions on steroid era candidates like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Though both players were outstanding in their playing days, connections to performance-enhancing drug use has kept them from reaching the Hall of Fame through the traditional process.
The results will serve as the latest referendum on how rule breaking can color a former baseball player’s chances for the honor. And it could offer a hint on where things stand for Pete Rose, who was placed on the “permanently ineligible” list for gambling on baseball games before President Donald Trump pressured MLB to remove the ban so that Rose could be posthumously considered for entry.
“President Donald Trump’s support of Pete Rose was among the factors weighed by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred when he decided (in May) that permanent bans by the sport ended with death, which allows the career hits leader to be considered for the Hall of Fame,” the Associated Press reported at the time.
Trump has been an advocate for Rose to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame for years and, shortly before Manfred’s decision, he announced that he would be “signing a complete pardon of Pete Rose” on social media.
But now Rose’s candidacy has taken another shocking turn after the president’s push helped to drive Manfred’s decision.
On Friday, FBI documents revealed that MLB had been investigating Rose in 1988, the year before the official investigation that led to his lifetime ban was announced, as federal investigators looked into his gambling as well.
“The documents show that MLB suspected in 1988, months before the public became aware of any investigation, that Rose was betting on baseball and was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt,” according to ESPN’s Michal Rothstein and William Weinbaum. “MLB, however, suspended its investigation at the request of federal law enforcement officials who were investigating Rose’s finances at the time.”
In the latest surprising twist in Rose’s legacy, the documents revealed that the government feared MLB might interfere with its own investigation into Rose’s finances. They also revealed that Rose was believed to $300,000 to $400,000 in debt due to his gambling at that time.
Rose will be eligible for consideration as a Classic Era Committee inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame beginning in 2027. It’s unclear just how the latest revelations into his gambling investigations might factor into his chances for induction. But with President Trump serving as a major supporter, he is sure to at least remain eligible until then.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterchawaga/2025/12/06/mlbs-pete-rose-investigation-gets-shocking-update-after-trump-push/
