Pete Rose can really say goodbye to his chances of returning to baseball’s good graces. According to a report, there are documents that can prove that the MLB’s all-time hits leader bet on baseball while he was still a player.
Documents obtained by ESPN’s Outside The Lines appear to show that Rose was a prolific gambler when it came to baseball in 1986. At that time, he was at the tail end of his long career. If these documents are correct, it means that Rose did not only gamble while managing, as he has claimed in the past.
ESPN obtained copies of pages from a notebook that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service seized from Rose friend Michael Bertolini’s home in October 1989 during a mail fraud investigation. That’s already two months after the league banned him for life. Two people who took part in the raid verified the documents’ authenticity. Since the raid, the actual notebook have been under court-ordered seal and is at the New York office of the National Archives.
Bertoli and his lawyer did not comment. However, Rose issued a statement to ESPN through his lawyer.
“Since we submitted the application earlier this year, we committed to MLB that we would not comment on specific matters relating to reinstatement,” the statement reads. “I need to maintain that. To be sure, I'm eager to sit down with [MLB commissioner Rob] Manfred to address my entire history -- the good and the bad -- and my long personal journey since baseball. That meeting likely will come sometime after the All-Star break. Therefore at this point, it's not appropriate to comment on any specifics.”
Former federal prosecutor John Dowd led the MLB’s initial investigation into Rose’s gambling and knew that Bertoli was keeping records of Rose’s betting. However, he told ESPN that they were never able to get access to the records.
The documents show, according to ESPN, that Rose bet on baseball between March and July 1986, while he was still a player-manager for the Reds. He never bet against his team, but he did bet on games in which he actually played. He also bet more on college and NBA basketball, losing $25,500 in a four-month span.
New talk about Rose being reinstated just so he could be elected to the Hall of Fame for his achievements as a player began last year when Rob Manfred became the MLB commissioner. Manfred said in March that he would consider the case. Rose finished his career with 4,256 career hits, a record that will be incredibly tough to beat since played for 23 years.
image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com