Pete Rose Admits To Betting On Baseball Games

[911SC Pilot]

NEW YORK -- After nearly 15 years of denials, Pete Rose has finally come clean and admitted he bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.


The career hits leader, says in his soon-to-be-released autobiography that he hopes the acknowledgment will help end his ban from the game, which could lead to his induction into the Hall of Fame.


Rose says he was a big-time gambler who started betting regularly on baseball in 1987 but never against the Reds, according to excerpts from the book released to Sports Illustrated for this week's issue that hits news stands Wednesday. Rose's book will be released Thursday.


"Yes, sir, I did bet on baseball," Rose tells commissioner Bud Selig during a meeting in November 2002 about Rose's lifetime ban.


"How often?" Selig asks.


"Four or five times a week," Rose replies. "But I never bet against my own team, and I never made any bets from the clubhouse."


"Why?" Selig asks.


"I didn't think I'd get caught."


Rose repeated his admission in an interview on ABC News' "Primetime Thursday," parts of which aired Monday on "Good Morning America."


"It's time to clean the slate, it's time to take responsibility," Rose says in the interview. "I'm 14 years late.


"I just never had the opportunity to tell anybody that was going to help me. ... I couldn't get a response from baseball for 12 years. It's like I died and, and they knew I died and they didn't want to bring me back. They were just going to let me rot."


In "My Prison Without Bars," Rose writes that he regrets lying for all those years and says, "I wish I could take it all back."


"I've consistently heard the statement: 'If Pete Rose came clean, all would be forgiven.' Well, I've done what you've asked. The rest is up to the commissioner and the big umpire in the sky."


Rose agreed to the lifetime ban in August 1989. He applied for reinstatement in 1997, but Selig hasn't ruled on the request.


After meeting with Selig, Rose came away thinking he would be reinstated "within a reasonable period." Other baseball officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the following month that Selig wanted Rose to admit he bet on baseball as part of any reinstatement agreement.


"We haven't seen the book. Until we read the book, there's nothing to comment on," Selig told AP on Sunday night.


As long as Rose is banned from baseball, he is ineligible for the Hall of Fame ballot. His last chance to appear on the writers' ballot is December 2005. After that, if he's reinstated, he could be voted in by the veterans' committee.


"The application remains pending, and the commissioner will take all of this into account," Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said Monday.


Rose wrote that if he "had been an alcoholic or a drug addict, baseball would have suspended me for six weeks and paid for my rehabilitation."


"I should have had the opportunity to get help, but baseball had no fancy rehab for gamblers like they do for drug addicts," Rose writes. "If I had admitted my guilt, it would have been the same as putting my head on the chopping block -- lifetime ban. Death penalty. I spent my entire life on the baseball fields of America, and I was not going to give up my profession without first seeing some hard evidence. ... Right or wrong, the punishment didn't fit the crime -- so I denied the crime."


In the book, Rose admits placing bets with Ronald Peters through Thomas Gioiosa and Paul Janszen -- the three were the primary witnesses in the 1989 investigation by baseball lawyer John Dowd that led to the agreement in which Rose accepted a lifetime ban.


Dowd concluded Rose bet on baseball between 1985 and 1987 and detailed 412 baseball wagers between April 8 and July 5, 1987, including 52 on Cincinnati to win.


"During the times I gambled as a manager, I never took an unfair advantage," Rose writes. "I never bet more or less based on injuries or inside information. I never allowed my wagers to influence my baseball decisions. So in my mind, I wasn't corrupt."


Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent said Sunday: "I think John Dowd is owed a big apology by Rose.


"John is the hero. He did a great job. Now Rose admits John was correct," Vincent said.


Rose wrote that after breaking Ty Cobb's career hits record in 1985, and as he dealt with retirement as a player the following year, his betting became more of a problem. He details losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.


"I didn't realize it at the time, but I was pushing toward disaster," he writes. "A part of me was still looking for ways to recapture the high I got from winning batting titles and World Series. If I couldn't get the high from playing baseball, then I needed a substitute to keep from feeling depressed. I was driven, in gambling as well as in baseball. Enough was never enough. I had huge appetites, and I was always hungry."


Asked during the ABC News interview what fans think about him, Rose said: "I think the powers that be in baseball understand that, 'Hey, maybe the fans like this guy. Maybe the fans want, want us to give him a second chance.'"

[CJFusco]

Bud Selig has said that the ban would be lifted if only Rose would admit to betting on baseball. It's time for Buddy-Boy to come full circle with his promise.

Pete Rose for the Hall of Fame in 2005? People seem to be split on whether or not he should be reinstated (I think he should), but the fact of the matter is that no-one since Ty Cobb played harder, and you can't argue with his numbers.

[Rot 911]

And keep in mind that Rose never bet on his own team to lose. Compared to what ball players get away with now, betting on baseball seems like it should be a minor offense.

[911SC Pilot]

Yes, I think it should be a minor offense, but I also feel he`s had years to fess up to the truth, instead of lying about it.

[CJFusco]

Okay, yes, but he is finally being honest.

And isn't the Baseball Hall of Fame more interested in BASEBALL accomplishments than individual character? Ty Cobb was one of the first inductees, and he was a notorious racist and bigot (although supposedly a hell of a nice guy to white men and children)... but you can't argue with numbers.

[island911]

"Baseball" takes itself WAY too seriously.

I mean, really; are these guys a bunch of Boy-scouts or a bunch of over-paid grown men playing a game in short pants?

[Icemaster]

Originally posted by island911
"Baseball" takes itself WAY too seriously.

I mean, really; are these guys a bunch of Boy-scouts or a bunch of over-paid grown men playing a game in short pants?

Agreed.

Now Hockey...there's a game.

Seriously, I cant' figure out why this is such an issue. Separate the two, was he a heck of a ball player whos achievements on the field warrant induction? Probably. Were his actions questionable off the field? Probably. So were Babe Ruth's. So were a lot of others. Should Pete's character (or lack thereof) weigh in on whether or not he is inducted? No, but it will because the commish has his panties bunched up.

What it will come down to is what impact will this have on the business of baseball? That's my bet on what Selig will be thinking. It's not like Rose will ever manage again anyhow. Any time he made a decision, he'd be second guessed, folks wondering if he had an ulterior motive to put in that pinch hitter, or make that pitching change etc.

[911SC Pilot]

I think Rose has been in talks with selig so he could manage again. Thats one of the reasons he told the truth.

[dd74]

I always thought Rose was "a goat" for no good reason. I mean, what did baseball want to prove by ostracizing him? That it has a clean act. P-shaw!

Personally, I liked the way Rose played. He brought life to a game that goes in real quick spurts with a lot of non-action action in between.

Betting on sports? Big deal. We have Ray Caruth shooting and killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, hockey players killing teammates in their Ferraris, and a potential rapist as the highest-voted player in the NBA right now.

Hmmm...

Who was the catcher Rose slid into during the All-Star game and subsequently ruined the guy's career? That's the only time I thought "Hustle" went overboard. Being competitive's one thing, but the All-Star game? It's sort of a "look-at-me" fest, IMO.

[Icemaster]

Originally posted by 911SC Pilot
I think Rose has been in talks with selig so he could manage again. Thats one of the reasons he told the truth.

What team in their right mind would hire him as a manager?

Maybe an office or scouting position, but I'd be DAMN surprised if a team hired him for a role that involved any decision making related to the outcome of a game. Too much liability in my opinion.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Icemaster
What team in their right mind would hire him as a manager?

Maybe an office or scouting position, but I'd be DAMN surprised if a team hired him for a role that involved any decision making related to the outcome of a game. Too much liability in my opinion.

Really? I'd hire him in a heartbeat if I had a lackluster team like the Dodgers. The betting's nothing. And credibility...he's got too much "win" in his blood. The man can't stand to lose.

Plus he knows how to play the game...

[Icemaster]

I wouldn't trust him if I were a team owner. Let's face it, 14 years to finally admit to something that he's always sworn he didn't do? Not a bright spot on the resume. I still believe that any move he made would be questioned and second-guessed to death by everyone from other team owners to media to the yahoos who call into sports talk radio - probably to the point that it would drive HIM crazy.

Yes, the guys got a winning attitude, and he knows the game, but, those traits didn't help him when he managed the Reds back in the 80's. He's a good guy, but not the sharpest knife in the block.

He managed 6 years, and had a .525 win/loss avg. He DID manage to get them to 2'd place 4 of the 6 years, but no penants or WS. It took Lou Pinella to get them the championship the year after Rose was let go. (not that they've realy done any better SINCE then.....)

The best place for him is in a position that can motivate players, but not make decisions i.e. coach, scout, liason, etc.

The biggest thing that stinks about this is that he's admitting that he did this in a book. If he was really repentant and wanted to get back in the game, he'd have admitted it to Barbara Walters, or called a press conference right after he got out of the meeting with Selig back in '02, not waited until he was ready to publish his memoirs.

Just so no one's confused - GO BOSTON!!!

[speeder]

He was a great player, no one can argue with that, but what a lying, stinking POS he is. I would not trust him as far as I could throw him, he's a pathological bull*****ter. I don't believe anything that comes out of his mouth. He probably threw games like crazy.

"He never bet against his own team"??

From a guy who's been swearing on a stack of Bibles that he never bet on baseball for 15 years trying to save his ass and reputation, now he realises that time is running out for the hall of fame, so he confesses (kind of) out of self interest? (So that he can maybe get the ban lifted)?

He's right there w/ O.J. on the honesty/integrity/credibility scale. I know, he didn't kill anyone, but come on. What a stinking POS.

[speeder]

I ran into him at Beverly Hills Porsche a couple years ago, (he's a Porsche guy), I couldn't even look at him. I grew up going to Twins games w/ my Dad, like kids all over the country for 100 years. It's the American pastime, for chrissakes.

I hate that guy. I really hate him.

[Moses]

Originally posted by dd74
Who was the catcher Rose slid into during the All-Star game and subsequently ruined the guy's career?

That was Ray Fosse. One hell of a nice guy.

I'm trying to get ready for the 2004 campaign. Which chant seems more catchy? "RED SOX SUCK!" or "BOSTON SUCKS!" Tough to choose. And where did the Red Sox come up with that "Cowboy up" slogan last year? Sheesh.

[dd74]

Originally posted by speeder
...now he realises that time is running out for the hall of fame, so he confesses (kind of) out of self interest? (So that he can maybe get the ban lifted)?

I didn't know there was a moratorium on guys entering the Hall of Fame. I thought it was a lifetime possibility.

Oh, well: I forgot he has a book coming out. Hmmm...that is shady.

I still think he was one of the greatest players I ever saw, but then I'm not the biggest baseball fan, either.

14 yrs to admit he betted on games? Wow, that's either resolve or mule-headedness.

[dd74]

Okay, after thinking this over and listening to news reports, my opinion's changed. Nah, Pete's a cad.

1) 14 yrs. to admit.
2) Lied on Nat'l TV
3) Book coming out at same time of admittance
4) Supposedly betting on games is the ultimate sin in baseball (though I can think of worse things).
5) So-so manager.
6) Really bad hair.
7) Some current hall-of-famers say they won't associate with the Hall-of-Fame if Rose gets in.
8) More dogs living with cats.

Yeah! If all that is substantiated, he's a putz!

[brawlins]

It seems to me like the chief acusation against Rose when Giamatti was commissioner was that Rose bet AGAINST HIS OWN TEAM while he was manager.

I thought they found a betting ticket with his fingerprints on it that was against the Reds.
Does anyone have any more clarification on this?

If he merely betted on the game (not against his own team), I would tend to forgive. If he bet against his own team, he should NEVER be in the Hall of Fame. HOWEVER, since he lied for the last umpteen years about the whole thing, I'm not sure he deserves the distinction of being in the Hall of Fame - Integrity should count for something.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by dd74
Who was the catcher Rose slid into during the All-Star game and subsequently ruined the guy's career? That's the only time I thought "Hustle" went overboard. Being competitive's one thing, but the All-Star game? It's sort of a "look-at-me" fest, IMO.

Ray Fosse of the Cleveland Indians. Rose was one of my heros when I was a kid playing little league (him and Brooks Robinson). He played hard, did the best with what he had (he wasn't the most naturally talented player out there), and loved the game.

He's human. But baseball has a rich history of "characters." Back in the old days, ball players were hard drinking, hard playing types who lived to play the game. Now we have mostly spoiled brats.

If you ever have a chance, try and find "Bill Stern's Favorite Baseball Stories." I've got a copy that my dad had and passed down to me. It was written in the 50's, and is full of short stories on the guys who played the came. Names like Ty Cobb, Rube Maquard, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, John McGraw, etc. Amazing stuff.

[dd74]

Good suggest, Todd. I'll look into it.

I'm a real closeted case when it comes to baseball. I come from a football background, so after Feb. 1st, the TV went off until August. So honestly, all this is somewhat new to me.

But what I'm trying to get my arms around is how betting on baseball is such the ultimate sin. I can understand betting on one's own games, but it seems betting on baseball in general when one's a player in the sport - note necessarily on the team - is held in lower regard than anything else a player can do.