Pete Rose still remains optimistic on getting his lifetime banned lifted from the MLB.
He tells ESPN that he has not given up on waiting for his second chance.
“I’ve waited 25 years, but I’ve done so because I was the one who screwed up,” Rose told ESPN.com. “And if I were given a second chance, I would be the happiest guy in the world.”
Rose was banned 25 years ago for betting on baseball in August 2009. He applied for reinstatement back in 1997.
With commissioner Bud Selig retiring from the MLB in January 2015, Rose hopes that he can be the one who lifts the ban before he goes away.
“I haven’t given up on Bud,” Rose said. “I’m not glad he’s leaving. He has a love for the game and has been good for it. If the next guy is his best friend, I don’t expect he’ll just turn me loose, but if he isn’t, I hope he has an open mind.”
Rose spends 20 days a month, for four and a half hours a day, sitting inside a Las Vegas store called the Art of Music on the strip signing autographs. Items cost between $80 and $800, Rose said, which includes some quality talking time with the slugger.
“I know there’s a lot of people who want to give me a second chance because they wouldn’t be stopping and paying for my autograph if they didn’t think so,” Rose said.
Rose says he still bets, but not a baseball. He claims he hasn’t bet on baseball in a “very long time.”
“I only bet on events that I am watching,” Rose said. “I watch the horses. I was a big fan of [Triple Crown hopeful] California Chrome.”
