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Pete Rose reflects on baseball career, gambling during lecture

By Krista Savage, News Editor

A sold-out Hall Auditorium welcomed baseball legend Pete Rose Monday night. A crowd of 750 cheered as Rose stood on stage and once again proclaimed his life-long goal of being inducted into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame.

Rose, alongside Cincinnati sports columnist Paul Daugherty, joined Miami University's annual lecture series as the first event of the year titled "Winning is Everything: The Hit King Talks Ethics in Sport."

During the lecture, Rose and Daugherty addressed the topic of Rose's gambling on the game of baseball when he was a player and a manager for the Cincinnati Reds. He was permanently banned on Aug. 24, 1989.

Rose, now 74 years old, was a rookie for the Reds in 1963. The majority of the cheering on Monday evening came from the audience's older members, who grew up following Rose.

He had a total of 4,256 career hits - the most in MLB history. Then, in 1989 after an investigation took place, it was revealed that Rose had been gambling on the Reds. Since then, he has been trying to regain the trust of MLB and get reinstated into the Hall of Fame.

"I only bet on my team to win. I made one mistake. Why did I lie? I panicked," Rose said. "I'm the one that messed up and if I'm ever given a second chance I'll learn from it."

Many, including Daugherty, said they believe Rose deserves both forgiveness, and a second chance.

Daugherty has worked as a Cincinnati sports columnist for the past 27 years.

"In my opinion, baseball is hypocritical," he said.

According to Daugherty, every day baseball spends millions in advertising for Draft Kings and other fantasy teams, and these are no different than gambling on players' performances in the real game.

"There's right and there's wrong, black and white. Gray serves no place. And that's what role fantasy baseball plays today. It's a gray area," he said.

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During the event, Rose spoke about his passion for the game. He said it was his entire life, and being banned from it was something he would never let himself stop trying to reverse.

"I believe that today I'm the best ambassador baseball has, and I'm not gonna sit up here and bad mouth the game. I love the game." Rose said. "I want people like you [college students] to learn from me. You know, that's why I'm here."

Rose spoke about attitudes when playing sports, and even though he messed up, he is going to remain positive and remember what he did for the game. He said he truly believes winning is everything.

"If you're not winning, you're losing," he said. "You know, I tell kids, 'don't play to have fun. You don't have fun if you lose, so play to win.'"

And he did just that. During Rose's career he set countless records and left a lasting impression on Cincinnati. This year, Rose was honored at the 2015 All-Star game along with MLB Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax. This year is also significant to Rose with the arrival of MLB's 11th commissioner, Robert Manfred, who made a goal to meet with Rose sometime by the end of the year.

"Pete left an impression on baseball," said sophomore Emma Jacky from Cincinnati. "When I saw him walk out on the stage I was really excited. I was ten feet from a man who has set all these records and a guy I've followed my whole life. A legend."

Despite the backlash from the majority of the MLB community, the audience on Monday night was filled with Pete Rose fans dressed in Reds attire ready to voice their opinions.

"Yeah, he may have gambled, but that doesn't take away what he did for baseball," Jacky said. "He was damn good."

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