Stephen A. Smith Suggests MLB Reinstated Pete Rose as a ‘Favor’ to Trump

Stephen A. Smith theorized that President Donald Trump may have had some involvement in the MLB’s decision to reinstate Pete Rose.

On Tuesday, league commissioner Rob Manfred announced that he removed Rose and a number of other players — including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson — from the MLB’s ineligible list. Placement on the list prevents players from being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, or having virtually any association with the league. Rose, for example, was banned for life when it was discovered he bet on baseball game while he was the manager for the Cincinnati Reds.

With his reinstatement, Rose could enter the Hall of Fame as soon as 2028.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Stephen A. Smith, Smith refused to commend Manfred for his decision and said it was something that should have been done long before Rose’s death — claiming the MLB has forgiven and enshrined others who have done worse. He then took is a step further when he suggested the league didn’t just do it “out of the kindness of its heart.”

“And now you know what else we’re hearing?” Smith said. “That the reason Rob Manfred may have come — we’re not sure — but may have come to this decision is because President Trump was pressuring him to do so, because he’s been wanted Pete Rose taken off of that ineligibility list and ultimately inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. So, now we’re political now. We had a conversation with the president, and now we made this decision.

“Let’s keep our eyes on what President Trump does on behalf of Major League Baseball down the line, because if it’s anything, then that would mean baseball really didn’t do this out of the kindness of its heart. They did it because they were expecting a favor in return.”