NEW YORK >> President Donald Trump’s support of Pete Rose was among the factors Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred weighed when he decided last month that permanent bans by the sport ended with death, which allows the career hits leader to be considered for the Hall of Fame.

Manfred announced the new interpretation on May 13, a decision that allows Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson to be considered for a Hall committee vote in December 2027.

“The president was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was the right decision,” Manfred said Wednesday during a news conference at an owners meeting. “Obviously, I have respect for the office and the advice that he gave I paid attention to, but I had a lot of other people that were weighing in on the topic, as well.”

Rose and then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti agreed to a permanent ban in August 1989 after an investigation commissioned by MLB concluded Rose repeatedly bet on the Reds as a player and manager for the team from 1985-87, a violation of a long-standing MLB rule. The Hall of Fame in 1991 decided people on the permanent banned list were ineligible for consideration.

Robot umpires

Computer technology to appeal ball/strike calls could be in place for the 2026 regular season. Manfred said use of the Automated Ball-Strike System was likely to be considered by the 11-man competition committee, which includes six management representatives.

During a spring training experiment in 288 games, teams were successful on 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges using the Automated Ball-Strike System.

“I do think that we’re going to pursue the possibility of change in that process and we’ll see what comes out at the end of that,” he said. “The teams are really positive about ABS. I do have that unscientific system that I use: my email traffic. And my distinct impression is that using ABS in spring training has made people more prone to complain of balls and strike calls via email to me referencing the need for ABS.”

2028 Olympics

Baseball is returning to the Olympics in 2028 after being played from 1992 to 2008 and then in 2021.

MLB is considering whether to allow big league players to be used at the 2028 Games. It did not allow players on 40-man rosters to participate in the 2021 Olympics and many teams discouraged top eligible prospects from playing.

“We made some progress with LA 2028 in terms of what it could look like,” Manfred said. “We have some other business partners that we need to talk to about, changes that would need to be made in order to accommodate the Olympics. I think we’re going to go forward with that process.”

Labor and possible salary cap proposal

A decision on MLB’s bargaining positions with the players’ association, including whether to propose a salary cap, will be made after this season. Bargaining is likely to start in the spring of 2026 for a successor to the five-year agreement with the union that ended a 99-day lockout on March 10, 2022. The deal expires on Dec. 1, 2026.

An ownership economic study committee was formed in 2023, sparking speculation about a renewed push for a salary-cap system aimed at decreasing payroll disparity.

“Payroll disparity is such a fact of life among the ownership group that there’s not a lot of need for talking about whether we have it or not. Everybody kind of gets it,” Manfred said. “We understand that it has become a bigger problem for us, but there has not been a lot of conversation about that particular topic.”

When MLB proposed a cap in 1994, players struck for 7 1/2 months in 1994 and ‘95, leading to the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904.

“Obviously, over the winter we’re going to have to decide what is going to be out there from our perspective, but no decisions on that topic so far,” Manfred said.