Major League Baseball (MLB) icon Pete Rose said the gambling scandal that got him banned from baseball cost him “a hundred million dollars” during episode 1 of Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose, a new HBO documentary series.
“You have to understand one thing, ladies and gentlemen,” Rose said at a Q&A after the premiere of episode 1. “Gambling cost me a hundred million [dollars]. That’s what I’d have made in baseball if I hadn’t got suspended.”
In 1989, Rose was managing the Cincinnati Reds when Major League Baseball investigated claims he had wagered bets on MLB games, including his own team’s. Bart Giamatti, then-MLB Commissioner, issued a lifetime ban from baseball on Rose.
To this day, the gambling scandal has kept Rose out of the Hall of Fame. Despite being the MLB’s all-time hit leader and holder of many other baseball records, the league will not let him in.
Rose, 83, is still continuing his campaign to be reinstated in baseball. At the Q&A moderated by broadcast legend Al Michaels, who called Reds games in the early ‘70s when Rose played, the MLB legend said that he thinks a ban of over 30 years is long enough.
“I’m the one that got hurt the most,” he said at the premiere. “Me gambling on baseball, I didn’t hurt you,” Rose added, pointing to members of the audience.
“I didn’t hurt her, and I didn’t hurt you. I hurt myself and my family and I was stupid. But I’ve overcome it. I’ve overcome it.”
Banned players and managers remain ineligible for enshrinement.
For years, Rose claimed he had never bet on baseball. A number of MLB fans believed him at the time. However, he eventually came clean in 2004.
While recalling his playing days, he said, “I’m saying to myself, if I’m a gambler, why not bet on my team? I’m running the goddamn show. I can make the moves; I never bet against my team. I bet on my team every fricking night.
“That’s the kind of faith I had in my players. … I won a hell of a lot more games than I lost. So in that respect, I was a respected gambler when I was betting on baseball. But I shouldn’t have did it. But it was fun doing it.”
Rose told Michaels he will be in Cooperstown, New York – the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame – next month. He will attend not to be inducted, but to sign autographs for fans.
However, if Rose is to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, he hopes it happens while he’s alive.
“Here’s my deal on that,” Rose told Michaels when asked about his MLB legacy. “I don’t want to go to the Hall of Fame after I die because the Hall of Fame is for your family and your fans.
“That’s who really gets the benefit from an individual going to the Hall of Fame. I don’t want to go to the Hall of Fame after they bury me. What good is that going to do to my family?”
Episodes 1 and 2 of Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose premiere on HBO on Wednesday, July 24. The final two episodes premiere the following night, Thursday, July 25.
