In a new report from ESPN’s Outside the Lines, there have been documents uncovered that indicate that Pete Rose bet as a player. Rose has consistently denied ever betting on baseball as a player for the last 25 years. Here is part of the OTL report:
For 26 years, Pete Rose has kept to one story: He never bet on baseball while he was a player.
Yes, he admitted in 2004, after almost 15 years of denials, he had placed bets on baseball, but he insisted it was only as a manager.
But new documents obtained by Outside the Lines indicate Rose bet extensively on baseball — and on the Cincinnati Reds — as he racked up the last hits of a record-smashing career in 1986. The documents go beyond the evidence presented in the 1989 Dowd report that led to Rose’s banishment and provide the first written record that Rose bet while he was still on the field.
“This does it. This closes the door,” said John Dowd, the former federal prosecutor who led MLB’s investigation.
…………………….
The documents obtained by Outside the Lines, which reflect betting records from March through July 1986, show no evidence that Rose, who was a player-manager in 1986, bet against his team. They provide a vivid snapshot of how extensive Rose’s betting life was in 1986:
• In the time covered in the notebook, from March through July, Rose bet on at least one MLB team on 30 different days. It’s impossible to count the exact number of times he bet on baseball games because not every day’s entries are legible.
• But on 21 of the days it’s clear he bet on baseball, he gambled on the Reds, including on games in which he played.
• Most bets, regardless of sport, were about $2,000. The largest single bet was $5,500 on the Boston Celtics, a bet he lost.
• Rose bet heavily on college and professional basketball, losing $15,400 on one day in March. That came during his worst week of the four-month span, when he lost $25,500.
There will be more about this Rose story on Outside the Lines today at 2:30 on ESPN. If this report is true, you have to believe that this would be the nail in the coffin for any chance of Rose returning to baseball, and certainly ever being elected in the MLB Hall of Fame.
Last August, the RN writers complied 25 years later another chance for Pete? We gave our opinions on if Rose should ever allowed in the HOF.
Update: Doug Gray pointed out that Pete Rose has already implied that he bet when he was a player from his book. Pete Rose last game played was August 17th 1986. If you read that page of his book closely, Rose said he bet during the 1986 playoffs, but can’t remember the first time he actually bet on baseball. That is a pretty indirect admission that he bet when he was a player. That book was published over a decade ago.
From Pete's book in 2004: Read that carefully. Pete took over as Player/MGR late in 84. Last game was Aug 1986. #Reds pic.twitter.com/9BEYU3StfF
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) June 22, 2015