On August 23, 1989, after being presented with the Dowd Report, Pete Rose signed an Agreement and Resolution wherein due to the findings he bet on baseball, he was “hereby declared permanently ineligible in accordance with Major League Rule 21 and placed on the Ineligible List.”

Rule 21 is well known within baseball, and it specifically states, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”

Despite his signing a deal sealing his fate, he denied betting on baseball. That was until he wrote a book entitled “My Prison Without Bars.” In that book, Rose finally admitted to gambling but only as a manager.

In 2015, Outside The Lines obtained Michael Bertolini’s notebook which kept records of Rose’s betting on the Reds both as a manager and a player.

Of course, Rose lied and lied about it as he saw fit. He also wants you to believe he’s the only one ever persecuted for this despite a similar ban being applied to Chick Gandil, Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver, and Lefty Williams.

While not as publicized as the Black Sox, Major League Baseball also banned St. Louis Browns second baseman Joe Gedeon for life as well due to his betting on the 1919 World Series using information learned from Risberg.

But to hear Rose tell it, he’s the only guy who has ever been banned, and he’s being persecuted by baseball. Despite his statutory rapes, he’s a nice guy who got a bum rap.

For some reason, people not only defend him, but they give him the time of day to talk about steroids and now the Astros cheating scandal. Each and every time, we hear how what everyone else did is worse and how they weren’t singled out like he was.

What Pete Rose says is completely absurd and self serving. There’s not a bit of real honesty in his statements, and it’s long past the time where people give him a platform to speak.

Rose knowingly broke baseball’s golden rule fully knowing the punishment. Like Alex Rodriguez, he has sued baseball, and like A-Rod, when the truth was revealed, he had to drop the suit. Of note, in the latest suit Rose dropped, he was noted to have committed statutory rape.

Make no mistake, what Rose did is far worse than any baseball player has done since his accepted lifetime ban. He has been a liar, and he has his own sordid past off the field aside from the gambling.

It’s long past time people stop giving him the time of day. Those who do are only giving him a platform to continue lying and defend the indefensible.