Controversial baseball legend Pete Rose still held out hope for a “second chance” at the sport just weeks before his death.
Rose, who was given a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989, died at the age of 83 on Monday at his home in Las Vegas, and the cause of his death has not yet been revealed.
While considered one of the greatest players in history, the MLB icon’s career was highly controversial after he was banned from the sport for betting on the Cincinnati Reds as a player and coach of the team.
And a few weeks before her passing, Rose admitted that she was still waiting for forgiveness.
“There’s nothing I can change about Pete Rose’s story,” he told the Texas television station. KLTV in an interview published on September 7.
Pete Rose still had hopes for a ‘second chance’ at baseball weeks before his death.
“I keep convincing myself or telling myself, ‘Hang in there, Pete, you’ll get a second chance.'”
“This is the only country that gives you a second chance,” Rose added. “I keep hoping that one day I’ll get a second chance and I won’t need a third.”
In addition to her gambling scandal, in recent years Rose was also accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a minor in the 1970s.
In 2017, the Phillies canceled his induction into the team’s Wall of Fame after a Cincinnati woman said in federal court that she had a sexual relationship with the married Rose that began during his first stint with the Reds in 1973, when She was 14 or 15 years old. .
However, Rose has never been charged with statutory rape and the statute of limitations has expired.
Although he allegedly admitted to the relationship, he insisted that he believed she was 16 at the time of the affair, making her old enough in the state of Ohio to consent to sexual activity.
Rose, who died Monday at the age of 83, was banned for life from baseball in 1989.
The MLB legend spent 17 seasons in Cincinnati and won a World Series in Philadelphia
In recent years, Rose has appeared at Reds games in Cincinnati, where he is still considered one of the best players in team history and one of the city’s favorite local athletes.
Rose spent most of his baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds, but also enjoyed stints with the Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos.
Baseball’s all-time leader in hits (4,256), singles (3,215), games played (3,562) and at-bats (14,053), the Cincinnati native won a pair of World Series with the Reds, another with the Phillies, while batting. .303 in his career.
A 17-time All-Star, Rose was also the 1973 National League Most Valuable Player, the 1963 National League Rookie of the Year and the 1975 World Series MVP.
He returned to Cincinnati, where he finished his career as player-coach of the Reds, and left his shoes as a player permanently in 1986.
