BURBANK, Calif. -- Baseball legend Pete Rose, whose sports betting got him banned from the game for life, has accepted the fact he has a gambling addiction, and has been seeing a psychiatrist to help deal with it.
In his first admission that he has a gambling problem, Rose issued a statement Wednesday acknowledging his addiction, then said on a syndicated television program that he agrees he should have been suspended, but swore again that he never bet on baseball games.
'After I was suspended from baseball on Aug. 24, I decided to see a psychiatrist because of the many accusations made in recent months that I have a gambling problem,' the former player and Cincinnati Reds manager said in his statement.
'Since then I have come to learn and accept the fact that I do have a problem related to gambling -- what my doctor, James Randolph Hillard of the University of Cincinnati Medical School, calls a gambling disorder -- and I am getting treatment.'
Appearing on the 'Donahue' show, Rose said, 'I swear that I didn't bet on baseball. I didn't need or want any bigger kick than being in the game I love.'
Rose said there would always be those who doubt him. 'It's very hard to prove I didn't bet on baseball,' he said. 'No one can prove something that didn't happen.'
In his agreement with late Commissioner Bart Giamatti to accept a lifetime suspension, Rose was allowed to admit to no wrongdoing. But under Major League rules, a player can be suspended for one year for betting on baseball, and can only be suspended for life if he has bet on games involving his own team.
Rose, who has more hits than any other player in major-league history, and was a sure bet for the Hall of Fame before his suspension, said he does not want anyone's pity.
'I could sit up here and cry for an hour,' he said. 'I'm in the process right now of rehabilitation. It's not completed. I didn't seek help for my gambling problem until the middle of September, and I know that it's something that I can't lick myself. I need help. I'm in the process of doing that now.
'I haven't patronized the race track in 3 weeks now and don't intend to. That's all I can do. And it took me many sessions with the doctor to admit to myself that I had a problem because of the type of disorder I had.'
Rose said he did not realize he was a problem gambler.
'I thought if I had a problem, I'd be gambling every day, gambling until everything was gone from my pocket,' he said. 'That's not the way it worked. There's alcoholics that don't drink for a month and then they go on a binge. I guess I'm that kind of gambler.
'I needed gambling when I needed something to do, when I had time to kill. It's kind of mind-boggling, but I realize I have a problem and that's on the road for recovery.'
Rose said he agreed with Giamatti's punishment because it allowed him to seek reinstatement after one year. He added that the legal cost of fighting the suspension would have been prohibitive.
'I think I would have won in court,' he said. 'I know I would have.'
Rose then expressed mixed feelings when asked if he wanted to return to the game.
'I'm not so sure I want to,' he said. 'Let me explain. I've taken more showers than anyone in the history of baseball. I'm very interested about being reinstated. I'm really looking forward to that and I'm going to do everything in my power to be the model citizen that everyone wants -- and that I think I was, except for the gambling.
'But as I sit here and talk to you, I don't even know if I'm going to file for reinstatement when the time comes. I don't think it's something that important that I could put a timetable on it.
'I want to be reinstated for one reason and one reason only -- I want to go to the Hall of Fame. Because all my friends are there.'
Members of the Baseball Writer's Association, who vote on admission to the Hall of Fame, are divided on whether Rose's off-field activities should have a bearing on his election.
Some writers have said there are several unsavory characters in the Hall who were elected solely on the basis of their achievements on the field. Others have said they wouldnever vote to admit Rose because of his gambling.
Rose will be eligible for induction in 1991, five years after retiring as a player.
