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It appeared as if Pete Rose was finally getting back in the good graces of baseball. Rob Manfred had replaced Bud Selig as Commissioner of Baseball and decided to allow MLB’s all-time hits leader to participate in activities surrounding this summer’s All-Star game in Rose’s hometown of Cincinnati.
It still looked unlikely, but an election to the Hall of Fame started to finally seem like a realistic possibility for the first time in years. Now, with new evidence that Rose bet on games during his playing career, he can kiss his Hall of Fame hopes goodbye.
ESPN’s Outside the Lines has obtained documents indicating Rose bet extensively on baseball during his playing career. For 26 years, Rose has been adamant that he never bet on baseball while he was a player. In 2004, he finally admitted he bet on games as a manager, but made it clear that it was only while he was a manager.
The documents are copies of pages from a notebook from the home of former Rose associate Michael Bertolini. Nearly two months after Rose was declared permanently ineligible by Major League Baseball in 1989, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service raided Bertolini’s house and the notebook was one of the item’s seized.
Ever since that day, the notebook has remained under court-ordered seal and is currently stored in New York in the National Archives’ office.
ESPN
The documents show just extensive and how deep Rose’s gambling addiction truly was. As Outside the Lines uncovered, Rose bet on at least one MLB team on 30 different days between March through July in 1986, the time covered in the notebook.
He didn’t bet just on baseball. Rose routinely gambled large amounts of money on both college and professional basketball, including one day where he lost $15,400.
In March of this year, Rose applied to commissioner Manfred for reinstatement. In April, Rose appeared on Michael Kay’s ESPN radio show and once again denied that ever bet on baseball as a player. “Never bet as a player: That’s a fact,” Rose said.
ESPN
It’s become clear once again. Pete Rose will never become a member of baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Seth Lassen is a writer for RantSports. ‘Like’ him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @Seth_Lassen.
