PETE ROSE ADMITS BETTING ON BASEBALL IN NEW BOOK

ESPN ^ | 1/3/2004 | ESPN.COM

[wattsmag2]

When they get through jerking Rose's chain, perhaps they'll do something about substance abuse. Nahhhhhh, too many current stars would be tainted with that.

[uncbob]

Ahem
If Mays coulkd turn singles and doubles into triples how the hell come he had far less than Ruth per times at bat

Mays was also a power hitter so by your logic his triples shouldn have been inside the part homers

Your logic is out of it

[Sonny M]

Rose never bet on a game he was involved in except to bet to win -- which, in one way or another, we've all done many times. True, he lied and continued to lie about what he did for years, and THAT was the only "real" blemish on his record.

The problem that Rose had with betting on his team to win, was that, according to the late Bart Giammati, was that the bookie would know if Rose even thought which games his team would probably lose, I'll give you an example.

Rose bets on his team to win, he bets 3 days in a row, then the 4th day, he doesn't bet, the question, why, the bookies assumes, Rose doesn't think his team will win that game, so the bookie would either shift his odds, or lines and also place a bet against the Reds with somone else.

Thats not a hypotethical, that really happened according to the investigators, same guy, also believed, but did not pursue evidence that Rose bet against his team, since he couldn't prove it, I don't think Rose did bet against his team, but bookies had an inside tract on which games Rose thought his team was going to win, and what games he didn't. His gambling activity was so high, that there was no other reason for him not to bet.

[nkycincinnatikid]

Oh for goodness sake , the day that Pete didn't place a bet on something the bookies in town would just assume that he was dead.

[raynearhood]

I went ahead and checked the record. I compared on base percentage, slugging average, batting average, fielding, stolen bases, MVP votes, etc..

I concede. DiMaggio is my favorite, Ryan is my hero, and the Babe was an American icon. However, Hank Aaron is the Best.

[Sonny M]

Oh for goodness sake , the day that Pete didn't place a bet on something the bookies in town would just assume that he was dead

To be honest with you, check with Fay Vincent, I never thought it was a big deal about him betting on his team to win, but his bookies, didn't assume he was dead, they assumed he thought his team was going to lose, and he belived his team was going to lose (since he was a manager, its even worse) and they did there business accordingly.

Check google under Pete Rose and Fay Vincent, and you should find the name of the investigators and the whole story about the bookie who would bet on Reds games based on how Pete Rose himself bet.

[uncbob]

You gotta be kidding about Aaron
Check his toatal at bats versus his homerun rbi runs etc to Ruths totals

Aaron was at bat almost FOUR THOUSAND times than Ruth

Nobody has even come close to Ruth's Slugging % of 890 in one year or his lifetime %
In addition Ruth was the best lefthanded pitcher in the American league for several years before he was traded to the Yankees . Her also held the record for consecutive scoreless world series innings until Whitey Ford broke it

Just as a matter of interest, Branch Rickey who was as knowledgable a baseball person as anybody and who saw Ruth Cobb Mays and Aaron play said if he was starting a team he would pick Honus Wagner as his first player
Jonh McGraw who saw Ruth nd Cobb also said the same thing

[capitan_refugio]

Generally speaking, comparing players from different eras is a non-starter; however, in this case, you are correct that Cobb was a better batter than Rose. I would say that Ted Williams was the best all-around hitter ever (batting average, power, rbi's), but that's just my opinion.

[capitan_refugio]

One's an ex-president, the other's an ex-con.

[genxer]

My guess, racist wasn't even a word in Ty Cobbs day. It was a completely a different standard and was before the PC crowd took over the country.

And hateful is all relative. I personally think Pete Rose was pretty hateful and disrespectful to the loyal fans of baseball. Betting on the game is bad enough. Betting on a game while you are sitting in the dugout is worse and then to arrogantly and repeatidly lie about it is not someone that should be considered with heros of the game. The repeated lying is what is most disturbing about this. Honestly its a matter of personal responsibility for ones actions.

[capitan_refugio]

I agree, in part, with your post, although I disagree with you regarding Rose and the Hall.

The "Black Sox" gambling scandal in 1919 (not the first gambling scandal in baseball, mind you) almost destroyed professional baseball. Kenesaw Mountain Landis took action to clean up the sport. Has banishment of the Black Sox sent a strong message to other players in the game. After that, every player, coach, and manager knew that gambling on baseball was THE capital crime in the sport.

Yet even today, after making his admission, Rose is still making morally relativisic analogies to drug use, etc. "If I'd been a drug addict, they would have paid for my rehabilitation." He still doesn't get it.

Well, the drug addict in the game usually fess up after they have tested positive. It took Rose nearly 14 years to come clean, and even then, there is no apparent remorse. As a matter of fact, I think this "admission" is in itself is a gamble that he will be re-instated before the 20-year period ends in which he could be voted into the Hall of Fame by the baseball sports writers. He knows he will not fare well with the Veterans' Committee.

The bar I would set for Rose is that he must be re-habilitated and stay clean (he still is an inveterate gambler) for at least as long as he has lied to the public about his "criminal" activity - i.e. 14 years. Maybe a 75-year old Rose would appreciate the gravity of his conduct.

[capitan_refugio]

Differnet ball parks, different players, different eras.

[capitan_refugio]

"till ... they tried to make me cut my hair"

Damn! That's child abuse. They did the same thing to me! I wish I had 1/10th of the hair today that I had then!!!

[capitan_refugio]

More:

I hate metal bats tooo. I understand that some high school federations are banning metal bats because of injuries. Good thing.

The DH rule can go too. An abomination on the game.

[steve-b]

He is, in a nutshell, baseball's Bill Clinton.

That sums it up nicely. It's quite evident that he's not at all sorry (just sorry that he got caught).

[steve-b]

This is a touchy subject, times were different then... Ty Cobb's attitude was the norm back in those days...

Actually, Cobb was a nasty bigot even by the standards of the time (and an all-around obnoxious punk in general).