Pete Rose says he’s ‘paid the price’ for his mistake
Feb 13, 2014, 11:39 AM | Updated: 11:44 am
By Shannon Drayer
Baseball legend Pete Rose joined “Wyman, Mike and Moore” Wednesday afternoon for a no holds barred interview in which he addressed topics ranging the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl to his ban from the baseball and ineligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rose accepts responsibility for the violation that has kept him out of the Hall of Fame but asks whether it’s fair when other serious transgressions receive comparatively tame punishments.
“What I did was absolutely wrong,” he said, “but when does the time come when a guy gets a second chance?”
He added: “These guys doing the drugs are getting 50 games, 100 games. I’m going on 24 years I have been suspended. When is enough?”
Rose said the fact that he didn’t bet on baseball when he was playing is an important distinction to make.
“I understand the integrity of the game. Who played the game in a better way as far as integrity of the game than I did? I made the mistake when I was a manager, not when I was a player,” he said. “I did no gambling on baseball when I was a player. It happened when I was a manager because there was something that was missing. All of a sudden you don’t get the at-bats. You don’t get the collisions at second or at home, and I needed something extra and the extra was betting on my team to win. That’s what I did. And I was wrong. I was absolutely wrong. I think most people would say I played the price.”
While saying that he has had good meetings with commissioner Bud Selig that allowed him to be on the field for World Series celebrations honoring the All Century Team and memorable moments, he suggested that the fact that these events made baseball money had more to do with his inclusion than good will. He is not sure if a new commissioner will help him get any closer to reinstatement.
More from Rose – including his thoughts on whether or not those associated with performance-enhancing drugs should be allowed in the Hall of Fame and whether he believes Edgar Martinez’s numbers were good enough to get – can be heard here.
