Pete Rose, the MLB’s all-time hits leader whom the league banned from the sport after catching him betting on games, joked that he wished he had an interpreter in the wake of the Shohei Ohtani interpreter betting scandal in a Monday social media post.
“Back in the 70s and 80s, I wish I had an interpreter. I’d be scott-free,” Rose said in a video posted to the Baseball History Nut Twitter account on Monday shows.
Pete Rose must know he’ll never get into HOF…cause why else would he made this comment pic.twitter.com/CMgseDdpVp
— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) March 25, 2024
The MLB banned Rose from baseball for life in 1989 after investigator John Dowd found that Rose placed bets on the Cincinnati Reds while playing for and managing the team from 1985-1987, according to the Associated Press.
Ohtani has been embroiled in scandal since March 18 when his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, told ESPN that Ohtani had paid off $4.5 million of Mizuhara’s gambling debts for him. Mizuhara then walked back those comments and Ohtani’s representatives dismissed Mizuhara’s initial accounts, claiming Ohtani was the victim of a “massive theft.”
“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” Ohtani’s lawyers Berk Brettler LLP said, according to ESPN. (RELATED: Shohei Ohtani’s Contract Is Patently Absurd)
Mizuhara allegedly owed an illegal California bookmaker over $4.5 million. At least two separate wire transfers of $500,000 each were sent to the bookmaker from Ohtani’s account, according to ESPN.
The Dodgers fired Mizuhara, and Ohtani issued a Monday statement to the press claiming he had no knowledge of the gambling and never bet on any sports nor authorized any wire transfers.
Free my boy Petey! He served his time.
For real, poor Pete Rose has to sit back and watch the MLB seemingly do everything possible to make Ohtani look good following the most massive gambling scandal in baseball since Rose’s own, even though the league denigrated Rose, who claims he only ever bet for the Reds and never against them, and meanwhile.
I like Ohtani — nay, I love the guy. He’s the most exciting thing to happen to baseball since … well, ever. So I don’t want to see the league over-scrutinize him. I just wish they valued Rose, who was incredibly marketable in his own right, the same way.