Gambler Rose comes clean

Rose had always denied betting on baseball

Fallen baseball hero Pete Rose has finally admitted he bet on games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

The all-time Major League hits leader was banned for life from baseball in August 1989 after an investigation into his betting.

His admission could end his ban which would then allow him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Baseball's regulations strictly forbid players or team staff to wager on their sport.

Rose comes clean in his new autobiography, My Prison Without Bars, which is published in the United States this week.

In excerpts published in Sports Illustrated magazine, Rose says he was a big-time gambler who started betting regularly on baseball in 1987 but never against the Reds.

During a meeting in November 2002, Rose told baseball commissioner Bud Selig: "Yes, sir, I did bet on baseball."

When Selig asked how often, Rose replied: "Four or five times a week. But I never bet against my own team, and I never made any bets from the clubhouse."

Asked why he gambled, he said: "I didn't think I'd get caught."

Disaster

In his book, Rose says he regrets lying for so long and wishes "..I could take it all back".

He adds: "I've consistently heard the statement: 'If Pete Rose came clean, all would be forgiven.' Well, I've done what you've asked. The rest is up to the commissioner."

Rose writes that after breaking Ty Cobb's career hits record in 1985, and as he dealt with retirement as a player in 1986, his betting became more of a problem.

He details losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, and admits: "I didn't realise it at the time, but I was pushing toward disaster.

"A part of me was still looking for ways to recapture the high I got from winning batting titles and World Series."