Rose: 'I bet on my team every night'

03/14/2007 4:52 PM ET

Rose: 'I bet on my team every night'
Says Dowd Report was correct in details of wagers on Reds
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Former Reds great and Major League all-time hits leader Pete Rose came clean Wednesday with another revelation about his sordid past as a gambler.

In an interview with ESPN Radio, Rose revealed to hosts Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann that he placed bets on the Reds "every night" while he was manager of the team during the 1980s. Rose also said that the Dowd Report was correct about those details.

"I bet on my team every night. I didn't bet on my team four nights a week. I was wrong," Rose told ESPN. "I bet on my team to win every night because I love my team, I believed in my team. I did everything in my power every night to win that game."

In 1989, Rose agreed to a lifetime ban from the game issued by then-Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti for betting on baseball, a charge he denied for more than a decade.

During a meeting with current Commissioner Bud Selig a few years ago, Rose privately revealed that he bet on baseball.

"I told him, 'Thank you, Mr. Commissioner, for letting me take this load off my shoulders,'" Rose told reporters in December. "That's how long it took me, from 1989-2001, to get an audience with the guy that is in charge of my life."

A public admission was made in an autobiography Rose wrote in 2004. Rose's web site continues to sell baseballs inscribed "I'm sorry that I bet on baseball," above his autograph.

Rose was a 17-time All-Star and a cornerstone member of the "Big Red Machine" in the 1970s. Affectionately known as "Charlie Hustle," he collected his 4,256 hits and was also the all-time leader in games played with 3,562, accumulated during a 24-season career that lasted from 1963-86. He enjoyed two tours with his hometown team -- first from 1963-78 and again from 1984-86 as a player-manager.

After his retirement as a player, Rose remained manager of the Reds until 1989.
The 65-year-old Rose remains ineligible for selection to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. An application for reinstatement to the game has been given no response by Selig.

On Tuesday, Rose was at the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum in Cincinnati to attend a grand opening on an exhibit that celebrates his playing career. The exhibit will open to the public on Saturday and run until the spring of 2008.

Up until now, official celebrations of Rose's career had been limited to 1999's All-Century Team and a celebration of 30 memorable moments in 2002. Major League Baseball gave its approval for the Reds Hall of Fame to pay tribute to Rose's playing career.

Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.