ESPN’s Outside the Lines may of just threw a wrench in any possibility of Pete Rose getting himself back into the good graces of Major League Baseball.
OTL revealed Monday they obtained notebooks from 1986 that contained bets Rose placed on sports while he was still an active player within the MLB. The information contained within the pages of the notebooks appeared to bring to the surface Rose betting on at least one MLB team over the course of 30 days. Some of these games included Reds games where of which he was actually playing in.
Rose though seemed to be more prone to bet on college and professional basketball. He reportedly lost $15,400 during a 24 hour period in March but lost a total of $25,500 over a one week period.
The notebook was kept by Michael Bertolini, a known associate of Rose who additionally placed bets for the Reds superstar on his behalf. As far as the notebook though it has been in the possession of the U.S. Attorney’s Office since 1989 after it was seized in a raid by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The documents are copies of pages from a notebook seized from the home of former Rose associate Michael Bertolini during a raid by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in October 1989, nearly two months after Rose was declared permanently ineligible by Major League Baseball. Their authenticity has been verified by two people who took part in the raid, which was part of a mail fraud investigation and unrelated to gambling. For 26 years, the notebook has remained under court-ordered seal and is currently stored in the National Archives’ New York office, where officials have declined requests to release it publicly.
Several news outlets tried to gain access to the pages via the Freedom of Information act but to avail. The timing though of the OTL report is interesting given the upcoming All-Star Game in Cincinnati, his attempt for reinstatement and the little factoid that Rose recently took a job with ESPN competitor FOX Sports One.
And despite no other outlet being able to get their hands on the Rose notebook, OTL made no mention of how they actually were able to obtain the information. This according to Deadspin.
Rose in the past has admitted to betting on baseball while managing but has strongly denied any gambling while he was a player.
