An enduringly controversial play in Pete Rose’s long, Hall of Fame-caliber Major League Baseball career had a certain Donald Trump quality to it.

It’s a baseball-political link between the president and Rose, who died Sept. 30, 2024, at age 83, that, in hindsight, seems obvious. It’s one that became clear as day when Trump, on March 3, said he planned to posthumously pardon Rose over a 1990 plea to two counts of filing false tax returns, for which MLB’s all-time hit king served a five-month prison sentence. Trump also argued for MLB rescinding Rose’s lifetime ban, which was issued in 1989 after he was found to be betting on baseball.