Strike Three – Pete Rose YOU’RE OUT!!!

A few months back I wrote a story that said it was time...time for Pete Rose to be allowed through the hallowed gates of baseball's Hall of Fame. In my opinion, based on the evidence at hand, Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hit leader, had served his time after a life time ban imposed in 1989, for betting on games while serving as manager of the Cincinnati Reds. While admitting to his crime, Rose reassured baseball that none of the games he bet on involved the Reds and also assured that he never bet on games while a player.

The ban prevented Rose for any involvement with major league baseball in any form, including induction into the Hall of Fame.

But I was wrong, because it seems Pete Rose lied. Again.

A report published by ESPN on Monday, indicates that not only did the man known as "Charley Hustle" bet on his own team, but he also did so while a player with the Reds.

Copies of a notebook seized from the home of a former Rose associate Michael Bertolini reportedly indicate Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader bet on at least one MLB team on 30 different days, according to ESPN's Outside the Lines. The evidence was seized during a U.S. Postal Inspection Service raid on Bertolini's home, as part of an mail fraud investigation, unrelated to sports betting.

The report also reportedly states that on 21 of those days, Rose bet on baseball and on the Cincinnati Reds, including on games in which he played. The documents reportedly do not show that Rose bet against his team.

In 2004, after almost 15 years of denials, Rose admitted that he had bet on baseball, insisting that he never gambled during his playing career and bet on baseball only as manager of the Reds.

According to espn.com, the documents have been verified by two participants in the raid, which took place in October of 1989, two months after Rose's lifetime banishment. For 26 years, the notebook remained under court-ordered seal and is currently stored in the National Archives' New York office, officials declining requests to release it. Major League Baseball's life-time ban, imposed by then Commissioner Bart Giamatti, meant Rose could not hold a job in the major leagues and was not eligible to be included on the ballot for the Hall of Fame.

Rose applied to new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for reinstatement in March of this year; Manfred has yet to rule on the application. Rose had been expected to take part in festivities tied to next month's All-Star Game, scheduled for Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark July 14th. Through his attorney, Rose has refused further comment.