Pete Rose shrugged off questions about his alleged statutory rape on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia while celebrating the team's 1980 World Series championship. Rose had been asked about the story by several reporters during and after the ceremony.
“No, I’m not here to talk about that. Sorry about that. It was 55 years ago, babe,” Rose said in the dugout moments after a team photo when asked about the accusations by a female baseball writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The writer wrote on Twitter that Rose, 81, later apologized and offered to "sign 1,000 baseballs" for her.
After the ceremony, Rose also blew off another question from The Associated Press, remarking, "Who cares what happened 50 years ago? You weren't even born. So you shouldn't be talking about it, because you weren't born. If you don't know a damn thing about it, don't talk about it."
He also told reporters: "I'm going to tell you one more time: I'm here for the Philly fans, I'm here for my teammates, OK. I'm here for the Philly organization, and who cares what happened 50 years ago."
Sunday was Rose's first appearance at the stadium since the franchise canceled plans to honor him in 2017 in the wake of the victim's allegations. The woman claims that she and Rose began having sex when she was 14 or 15 in 1973 and that their relationship lasted several years. Rose admitted to the sexual relations, but claimed that she was 16 when it began and they never had sex outside of the state of Ohio.
Rose was also banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling on the sport from 1985-87.
[Via]