Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred met with President Donald Trump this week at the White House. According to Major League Baseball, the meeting was centered around discussing matters related to the sport. MLB noted that President Trump has been a longtime fan of baseball, and Manfred, as he has in the past, was happy to visit the president and engage in these discussions.
The meeting took place on Wednesday and was initially reported by The Washington Post.
In a separate development, Jeffrey Lenkov, a Southern California attorney who previously represented Pete Rose before his passing at age 83, filed a petition on January 8th seeking to have Rose reinstated to baseball. Rose was placed on baseball’s permanent ineligible list in 1989 after an investigation led by attorney John M. Dowd revealed that he had placed multiple bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win while managing and playing for the team from 1985 to 1987. Those placed on the permanent ineligible list are barred from being considered for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Manfred had previously rejected a similar petition for Rose’s reinstatement in 2015. However, President Trump expressed in February that he plans to pardon Rose, who pleaded guilty to two charges of filing false tax returns in 1990 and served a five-month prison sentence.
Pete Rose, a 17-time All-Star, holds the MLB record for most career hits with 4,256. He also set records for most games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890), was named the National League MVP in 1973, and won three World Series titles.