Pete Rose Claims Gambling Scandal Cost Him $100M

While gambling in Las Vegas in 2007, Nebraska businessman Terrance Watanabe lost $127 million, believed to be one the biggest gambling losses ever. Pete Rose came close. The former Major League Baseball icon, now 83, claims that gambling cost him $100 million, though in a different way.

“That’s what I’d have made in baseball if I hadn’t got suspended,” Rose told an LA screening audience Wednesday for Episode 1 of “Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose,” HBO’s new documentary series about the scandal that indelibly tarnished his legacy in 1989.

Besides holding the major league record with 4,256 hits — more than 3,300 of which he got while wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform — Rose is best known for being banned from the game for life in 1989 for betting on the Reds while managing them.

“I’m the one that got hurt the most,” the disgraced legend told sports broadcaster Al Michaels, who called Reds games while Rose was the team’s star player in the early ’70s.

“Me gambling on baseball, I didn’t hurt you,” Rose said, referring to the audience. “I hurt myself and my family, and I was stupid. But I’ve overcome it. I’ve overcome it.”

Not Smelling Like a Rose

Rose seemed defensive and conflicted about his past at the Q&A session, insisting that a ban of over 30 years was long enough because he only bet on his team to win.

I never bet against my team,” he said. “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.”

MLB rules don’t discern between betting on your team to win or lose. Betting on a game in which your team plays merits a lifetime suspension.

When Michaels asked Rose whether he ever sought counseling for his addiction, he replied: “I went a couple times. I didn’t understand what they were saying. Really, I didn’t. I really didn’t. I mean, maybe I didn’t want to. But they shouldn’t have been up on a soapbox.”

Although MLB has granted waivers for Rose to appear at some Reds and league events, all of his requests to lift his ban have so far been denied.

After the scandal, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York instituted a policy that anyone banned from the sport wouldn’t be eligible for enshrinement there.

The first two episodes of the four-part HBO series premiere on Wednesday night, July 25. The final two premiere the following night.