PHILADELPHIA — Pete Rose brushed off questions Sunday about his first appearance on the field in Philadelphia since the franchise scrapped 2017 plans to honor him because of a woman’s claim that she had a sexual relationship with baseball’s kingpin when she was a minor.
“That was 55 years ago, baby,” Rose told a baseball writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Still, Rose had no problem recalling the 1980 World Series champion Phillies team — that was 42 years ago, Pete — being honored before Sunday’s game.
After being lightly teased at first, 81-year-old Rose received a standing ovation from Phillies fans — many of them not even born or too young to remember baseball’s hitting king in his prime — when he took the field at Citizens Bank Park for the first time since receiving a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball in August 1989.
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“They made me feel really good today,” Rose said of the cheers. “I don’t want to say that I expected it. I guess I expected it from Philly fans. That’s how they are. They love their sports heroes.”
Rose’s already tarnished reputation suffered another blow in 2017, when the Phillies canceled a planned induction into the team’s Wall of Fame due to allegations of sexual misconduct filed against him. Rose answered a reporter’s question before the game — and later apologized after Sunday’s ceremony — after initially saying, ” will you forgive me if i sign 1000 baseballs for you– and was just as combative on the subject after the pregame party.
“I’ll tell you one more time: I’m here for the Philly fans, I’m here for my teammates, OK,” Rose said. “I’m here for the Philly organization and who cares what happened 50 years ago.”
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The woman, identified as Jane Doe in 2017, said Rose called her in 1973, when she was 14 or 15, and they began a sexual relationship in Cincinnati that lasted several years. She also claimed that Rose had met her at locations outside of Ohio for sex.
Rose’s lawyer had said the woman’s claims were unverified.
Rose admitted in 2017 that he had a relationship with the woman, but he said it started when she was 16. He also said they never had sex outside of Ohio.
At the time, Rose was in his mid-30s and married with two children.
Rose was among the many former greats — including Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, and fellow World Series champions Bob Boone, Greg Luzinski and Larry Bowa — honored for the 1980 team. Mike Schmidt sent a message of videotaped and missed graduation day celebrations because he tested positive for COVID-19.
“We’ve been doing it for a while, coming back every year, and Pete’s mix, I thought, was pretty special,” Boone said. “When I go to (Cooperstown), I always thought he should be there. You can write anything there, but he was the greatest hitter in the league. Put his name and make sure he did it, he was punished for everything.”
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Last month, the Phillies defended the decision to invite Rose to attend the ceremony.
“In planning the 1980 reunion, we consulted with Pete’s teammates about his involvement,” the Phillies said in a statement. “Everyone wants Pete to be part of the celebrations as there would have been no trophy in 1980 without him. In addition, the club received permission from the Commissioner’s Office to invite Pete as a member of the championship team.
The original 1980 anniversary celebration was postponed for two seasons due to the pandemic.
A 17-time All-Star, Rose had 826 of his 4,256 hits during his five years playing for the Phillies from 1979-83. There are no immediate plans for Rose to be inducted into the Philadelphia Wall of Fame.
“Everybody would like to be on the Wall of Fame,” Rose said. “I don’t know who made that decision, but God bless them. They did it for a reason. I’m still here today for the biggest event in a long time here in Philadelphia. I’m sitting here talking to you guys. Everything is fixed.”
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Rose agreed to the lifetime ban after an MLB investigation by attorney John Dowd revealed that Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing and managing the team.
Rose has asked MLB to end his life sentence.
“He also did some wrong things and got in trouble for it,” Boone said, “but there he is.”
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