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Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench apologized Sunday for an antisemitic comment he had made a day earlier during a team event. Bench was in attendance Saturday at a news conference to honor former Reds general manager Gabe Paul, who was Jewish, and former pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo. The trio was being inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame. Paul, who died in 1998, was represented at the event by his daughter, Jennie Paul. Near the end of the news conference, Pete Rose recalled his first contract negotiation with Gabe Paul, saying: "When I got out of high school...

Source: Official White House Photo by Shealah CraigheadMr. President, presidential pardons are reserved for great Americans who made a mistake and have paid their dues to society. Here are two great patriots who fit the bill perfectly. I'm proud to say they are both my friends. And I'm proud to be fighting for them. Both men have done great things for America and the American people. They deserve a pardon so they can move on with their lives and legacies. Let's start with my friend Pete Rose. Pete is one of the greatest baseball players in history. He is beloved...

I’m a big fan of accountability – if you break the rules there has to be consequences, or else there are no rules. But I’m also for sanity and proportional punishment, which is why I think it’s time (well past, to be honest) to lift the lifetime ban on Pete Rose and allow him into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Pete Rose bet on baseball, he also lied about it when caught. All of this is well known and not irrelevant, but the price for that has been paid. Rose is baseball’s hit king, slapping out 67 more hits and Ty...

Baseball legend Pete Rose took a shot at his former teammate and Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench on Thursday during an appearance on “The Brian Kilmeade Show.” Rose fired back after Bench refused to budge from his view that the former Cincinnati Reds star should be excluded from the Baseball Hall of Fame for gambling on the sport in 1989. “It don't bother me but you know Johnny Bench is one guy who should thank God I was born,” Rose told host Brian Kilmeade. “Because he never would have made the Hall of Fame if I wasn't born.” Kilmeade...

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PAPSA) that outlawed sports gambling in most states.From Fox News: The 1992 law had barred gambling on football, basketball, baseball and other sports with some exceptions, like allowing people to wager on a single game only in Nevada. The Supreme Court ruling now gives states the go-ahead to legalize sports betting if they want."The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make," the opinion by Justice Samuel Alito said."Congress can regulate sports gambling directly, but if...

The Phillies will not enshrine Pete Rose on the team's wall of fame at Citizens Bank Ballpark this weekend, canceling the ceremony honoring baseball's all-time hits leader only days before it was scheduled to take place. The team's announcement was prefaced with "Due to recent events …," an apparent reference to news this week, via court documents in Ohio, that Rose acknowledged having sex with a female who was younger than 16, though the former MLB star and manager claimed to believe she was of legal age at the time of the extramarital affair in the 1970s while he was...

Yes, I would rather be thinking aloud about such things as Jeff Samardzija’s slightly ridiculous contract. (Shades of Bud Black.) About whether John Lackey’s and (especially) Jason Heyward’s signings with the Cubs really do make them a 2016 World Series entrant. (Berra’s Law still applies, as the 2015 Nationals can tell you.) About how much financial flexibility Michael Cuddyer’s retirement leaves the Mets. (Some, but maybe not quite enough to think about re-signing Yoenis Cespedes.) Or Johnny Cueto signing with the Giants. Among other things. But commissioner Rob Manfred has let it be known that Pete Rose isn’t going to...

It was a metaphor for all to see on this fall's World Series pre- and postgame shows. An outcast for more than a quarter-century, Pete Rose appeared as a Fox Sports TV analyst -- on a set outside the stadium. Now Rose, 74, will remain officially on the outs for the foreseeable future, following Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred's denial on Monday of Rose's bid for reinstatement, 26 years after his lifetime ban based on evidence that he had gambled on the sport -- and on his own team -- as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. Manfred's ruling is...

Charlie Hustle is still out. Baseball's hit king Pete Rose got an early Christmas present from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, and it wasn't what Rose had on his wish list.

The addition of Pete Rose to the Fox Sports 1 broadcast team has definitely served its purpose for the still building sports network. Whether he's criticizing Josh Donaldson for not playing through a possible concussion, or bonding with Alex Rodriguez over not being liked, Rose manages to get people talking with just about every pregame or postgame appearance. Now we have to include videobombs in Rose's act. During the eighth-inning rain delay in Friday's ALCS Game 6, Rose had the internet talking and immediately creating memes after momentarily popping up in C.J. Nitkowski's live shot.

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...

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred says he has received a formal request from Pete Rose asking that his lifetime ban be lifted and that he will consider the all-time hits leader's request "on its merits." "I want to make sure I understand all of the details of the Dowd Report and Commissioner [Bart] Giamatti's decision and the agreement that was ultimately reached," Manfred said after a meeting with Los Angeles Dodgers players in Arizona on Monday morning. "I want to hear what Pete has to say, and I'll make a decision once I've done that." Rose's...

No matter what you think of Pete Rose, you can't deny what an electric moment it was on September 11th, 1985, when Rose became baseball's all-time major league hit leader -- a record that still stands today. And yet, the debate over whether his cardinal sin -- gambling on baseball -- should keep him out of the Hall of Fame for life remains as fierce as ever, as correspondent Lee Cowan explains in a profile of Rose, to be aired on CBS' "Sunday Morning" October 19... Take our poll! Do you feel Pete Rose should be inducted into the National...

In a touching interview with Jeremy Schaap of ESPN, Pete Rose spoke of the reasons why he gambled on baseball, acknowledging he made a terrible mistake when he gambled and also erred in signing away his future when he was suspended. Prompted by Schaap, he concluded with a plea to Bud Selig to let him back in the game for which he has such a passion.

Pete Rose has a vision. Someday his career hits record will be tied, and he will respond with one final turn at bat. He will roll a single up the middle and crawl to first base for No. 4,257, reclaiming his title as Hit King. Rose related this fanciful dream on the phone the other day, at the end of a lively conversation. The problem with the story, obviously, is that he is 73 years old and has been barred from baseball since 1989. But there has to be a better ending out there, somehow. Life is good for Rose....

...We are coming on 25 years of Pete Rose's banishment... Pete Rose played baseball with an intensity and love that might be unmatched in the game's history. He cracked more hits and reached base more times than anyone ever. He represented a way to play baseball that inspired millions of people. Then, he gambled on games, breaking one of baseball's most cherished rules. Rose is 72 years old now, and I think it's time to let him back into the game. I don't think anyone should ask him to apologize again or come any cleaner than he has. I don't...

Baseball card collectors and fans of the game are left scratching their heads after Topps made the decision to scrub mentions of Pete Rose and his Major League Baseball records from their products. ...... Yet, when it comes to players chasing Rose' records, his name is omitted. For example, Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski's card mentions his standing in regard to the "all-time record of 4,256" hits, but no mention as to who holds that mysterious record.

On Saturday, the Cincinnati Reds celebrated the 25th anniversary of Pete Rose's 4,192d hit, which broke Ty Cobb's career hits record. Later that night, at a roast of Rose at a casino in Indiana, Rose broke down and cried as he made a heartfelt apology for his involvement in betting on baseball. "I disrespected the game of baseball," Rose said. "When you do that, you disrespect your teammates, the game and your family."

The thing that makes this story a bit different is that a one time baseball hero named Pete Rose is acting sort of like a pimp. (Pimping in this case meaning to advertise or to promote.)Pimping out a girlfriend for nude photo shots is beyond the pale.