Major League Baseball

Rose says he picked wrong vice

Published Aug. 12, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

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Disgraced baseball icon Pete Rose recently advised Alex Rodriguez and other players who have run afoul of baseball's PED ban that they should come clean, saying baseball's all about giving second chances.

Early this morning, he expanded on the topic during a radio chat with 93.7 The Fan’s John Phillips.

To sum it up, Rose, who was banished from baseball for betting on games during his time as a manager for the Cincinnati Reds, says he'd have been better off if he'd used drugs, been an alcoholic or assaulted his wife or girlfriend.

"I made mistakes. I can’t whine about it. I’m the one that messed up and I’m paying the consequences. However, if I am given a second chance, I won’t need a third chance. And to be honest with you, I picked the wrong vice. I should have picked alcohol. I should have picked drugs or I should have picked up beating up my wife or girlfriend because if you do those three, you get a second chance. They haven’t given too many gamblers a second chances in the world of baseball,” said Rose.

Rose, the game's all-time hits leader, was banned in 1989 by then commissioner Bart Giamatti.

He didn't publicly admit to betting on baseball until 2004, when he released an autobiography "My Prison Without Bars."

Reinstatement rumors have persisted over the years, but MLB has shown no inclination to bring him back into the fold.

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