Pete Rose Bet On Baseball as Player

In documents obtained by ESPN's Outside the Lines, records show that all-time hits leader Pete Rose (4,256 hits) bet on baseball as a player extensively.  The documents were seized by authorities in a raid of the home of Michael Bertolini in 1989, showing pages of bets that Rose had made through Bertolini.

Over the last 26 years the notebook had been under a court-ordered seal and stored in the National Archives offices in New York.  Rose was banned from baseball after the Dowd Report performed by federal prosecutor John Dowd revealed that Rose had bet on baseball, but Bertolini's notebook was not involved in the case after Bertolini decided not to cooperate with the prosecution.

The records show that Rose bet from March through July of 1986 as he was the player-manager for the Cincinnati Reds.  Although some of the evidence is illegible, there are records that show he bet on his own team and that his betting on baseball was quite extensive.

Records show that Rose bet on at least one MLB team on 30 different days.  He also gambled on the Reds in games in which he played at least 21 of the 30 days.  The notebook shows that Rose did not bet on Reds games that Bill Gullickson started, thus showing he had lost hope in the pitcher.  Gullickson was then traded to the Yankees in August 1987.

Most bets shown in the records were around $2,000, but his largest bet was $5,500 on the Boston Celtics; a bet in which he lost.

"This does it.  This closes the door," said John Dowd who led MLB's investigation into Rose's gambling.

Back in 2004, Rose admitted to betting on baseball, but not against the Reds.  In 2007 Rose said on ESPN Radio that, "I bet on my team every night."  That has now been shown to be a lie.

Rose's lawyer Raymond Genco released this statement following the release of the notebook records:

"Since we submitted the application earlier this year, we committed to MLB that we would not comment on specific matters relating to reinstatement. I need to maintain that. To be sure, I'm eager to sit down with [MLB commissioner Rob] Manfred to address my entire history -- the good and the bad -- and my long personal journey since baseball. That meeting likely will come sometime after the All-Star break. Therefore at this point, it's not appropriate to comment on any specifics."

Back in March, Rose applied for reinstatement to newly appointed commissioner Rob Manfred and repeated his claims that he did not bet as a player up until April on numerous radio stations.  It is safe to say that Manfred's consideration to reinstate Rose is now zero to none with the release of Bertolini's notebook.  Rose was also supposed to appear at the All-Star game in Cincinnati, but no statement has been made to whether or not he will still be a part of All-Star festivities.

Rose is supposed to meet with Manfred and MLB official John McHale in the near future regarding his reinstatement, but there is no doubt that his chances took a devastating blow.