Pete Rose Quotes (46 Quotes)

This is a tragedy. Anyone who knows this young man knows he is a very, very fine young man. The use of this stuff is common. It's used as a sleep aid by many people in sports.

I was born on the day Lincoln was shot and the Titanic sank.

I don't think Pete ran a red light or had a speeding ticket. That's the kind of kid he is, ... I wish people understood how small the mistake he made is.

I'm just like everybody else. I have two arms, two legs and four-thousand hits.

had been an alcoholic or a drug addict, baseball would have suspended me for six weeks and paid for my rehabilitation.

With the money I'm making, I should be playing two positions.

My father taught me that the only way you can make good at anything is to practice, and then practice some more.

When I get the record, all it will make me is the player with the most hits. I'm also the player with the most at bats and the most outs. I never said I was a greater player than Cobb.

He pitched me like it was the seventh game of the World Series, ... I guess he thought it was Joe DiMaggio up there.

Am I still in uniform? Then I ain't retired.

I've been wrong about six times as far as that goes. Now I am hoping they do something, but I sure am not optimistic. I am less optimistic as every month goes by.

Doctors tell me I have the body of a thirty year old. I know I have the brain of a fifteen year old. If you've got both, you can play baseball.

I broke the record on Sept. 11 and I was born the day Lincoln was shot and the Titanic sank (April 14).

During the times I gambled as a manager, I never took an unfair advantage, ... I never bet more or less based on injuries or inside information. I never allowed my wagers to influence my baseball decisions. So in my mind, I wasn't corrupt.

Sliding headfirst is the safest way to get to the next base, I think, and the fastest. You don't lose your momentum, and there's one more important reason I slide headfirst, it gets my picture in the paper.

I like Rose as a person. He played with great passion. I think he made a tragic mistake. We all make mistakes. You forgive and you move on. But Rose made a tragic mistake in not telling the truth. That's a tough nut for Bud Selig to handle. It was a sickness with Rose. He'd go to the dog track and he'd bet two or three thousand dollars on the dog running. He loved the action. You shouldn't have any betting in the locker room at all, whether it's baseball or it's horses. You can't beat the horses. You can't beat any kind of gambling because they have the odds. if they get deep into you they're going to say, 'Do this or do that.'

Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal.

I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.

The manager of a team is like a stagecoach, he can't move unless he has the horses.

The team that wins two-thirds of its one run games usually wins the pennant.

When you play this game twenty years, go to bat ten-thousand times, and get three-thousand hits, do you know what that means? You've gone zero for seven-thousand.

Here's my take on steroids We can say anybody took steroids. We don't know. Unless you took steroids the last two years, I don't care.

Some players you pat their butts, some players you kick their butts, some players you leave alone.

I've got a 15-year old son and a 10-year old daughter, and if they were going to do one of the following things be an alcoholic be a drug offender beat their wife or husband or gamble. I hope they would gamble.

It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square.

I think people understand that I understand I made some mistakes and I cant change them,

See the ball; hit the ball.

Somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose and I believe in letting the other guy lose.

I think, first of all, you have to understand I think I have a pretty good relationship with Mr. Selig, ... I do. It just took me a long time to meet him. I met him in Atlanta at the 1999 World Series when Selig lifted the ban so Rose could appear with the All-Century Team, first time. I believe he is a fair man.

In my case, I broke the rules and I've been suspended 18 years. So if guys broke the rules the last two years then they have to be handed out some kind of sentence.

Brooks Robinson belongs in a higher league.

Never bet on baseball.

How can I be on a list that expires after 15 years if I'm suspended ... It should be that time stops.

I'm no different from anybody else with two arms, two legs, and forty-two hundred hits.

It's the best part of music when we play music for free to give back to people. My band always plays better and I always play better when I know I'm playing for free to help heal or benefit or feed or educate someone. . . . It doesn't matter how many times you do concerts for Africa or South America or Indians. If people steal some of it, keep doing it. They can't steal all of it.

It's easy to practice something that you are good at, and that is what most people do. Wat's tough is to go ot and to work hard on the things that you don't do very well.

There is an old saying that money can't buy happiness. If it could, I would buy myself four hits every game.

The greatest competitor was Bob Gibson. He worked so fast out there and he always had the hood up. He always wanted to close his own deal. He never talked to you because he was battling so hard. I sure as hell don't miss batting against him, but I miss him in the game.

Four or five times a week, ... But I never bet against my own team, and I never made any bets from the clubhouse.

I've never looked forward to a birthday like I'm looking forward to my new daughter's birthday, because two days after that is when I can apply for reinstatement.

just wants to play baseball.

Mr. Selig looked at me and said, 'I want to know one thing. Did you bet on baseball' ... I looked him in the eye. 'Sir, my daddy taught me two things in life -- how to play baseball and how to take responsibility for my actions. I learned the first one pretty well. The other, I've had some trouble with. Yes, sir, I did bet on baseball.'

I made a big mistake. I was wrong. But I can't change it. I just wish people would understand and give me a second chance. I won't need a third chance.

I should have had the opportunity to get help, but baseball had no fancy rehab for gamblers like they do for drug addicts, ... If I had admitted my guilt, it would have been the same as putting my head on the chopping block -- lifetime ban. Death penalty. I spent my entire life on the baseball fields of America, and I was not going to give up my profession without first seeing some hard evidence. ... Right or wrong, the punishment didn't fit the crime -- so I denied the crime.

As for Selig possibly imposing public acknowledgement of his mistakes ... Whatever he needs. He is the boss.

I don't know what he did the last two years. All I know is the guy can hit.