(This March 1 story has been corrected to say Rose admitted to filing false tax returns, not that he was not convicted of a crime, in paragraph 5)
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would pardon baseball great Pete Rose, criticizing Major League Baseball for barring the all-time hit champion from the sport's hall of fame for gambling.
Rose, who died last year at 83, was banned from baseball for life. He admitted in 2004 that he had bet on games, though never against his own team.
"Over the next few weeks I will be signing a complete pardon of Pete Rose, who shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on his team winning," Trump posted on Truth Social.
"He never betted against himself, or the other team. He had the most hits, by far, in baseball history, and won more games than anyone in sports history."
Trump did not say what the pardon would cover. Rose pleaded guilty in 1990 to felony charges of filing false tax returns, news reports said at the time.
In 2017 the Philadelphia Phillies canceled a ceremony to honor Rose after allegations surfaced that he had had a sexual relationship in the 1970s with a girl before she turned 16. He said she was 16, the age of consent, at the time, ESPN reported.
Rose, who spent most of his 1963-1986 career with the Cincinnati Reds, won the World Series three times and leads Major League Baseball's all-time charts in hits, games played, at-bats, singles and outs.